Lessons from the past

Under the direction of Christopher Fennell, a team of students spent the summer of 2008 unearthing remains of New Philadelphia, a lost western Illinois town where blacks and whites lived together in peace and freedom a quarter century before the Civil War broke the grip of slavery. The project has uncovered more than 65,000 artifacts and the remains of a dozen houses and businesses. Findings indicate the community was generations ahead of its time, with blacks and whites living side by side and with an integrated school. Archeologist Fennell has more work to do. He and his collaborators have looked at only seven of New Philadelphia's 42 acres.

View all in the sampling of the articles in the 2008-09 Annual Report.