Here’s the latest in our series of entertaining interviews with a diverse array of your fellow SHA members. Meet a member for the first time or learn something about a colleague that you never knew before. This blog series also offers current members an opportunity to share their thoughts on why SHA membership is important (Camaraderie? Professional service? Exchange of ideas in conference rooms and beyond? You tell us!). If you would like to be an interviewee, please email the Membership Committee Social Media Liaisons Eleanor Breen (eabreen@mountvernon.org) or Kim Pyszka (kmpyszka@aum.edu).
An Interview with Caitlin Smith (caitlinsmith8221@gmail.com), a board member at the Wilson Center for Nature Discovery and an instrumental member of the SHA.
Who influenced your decision to become an archaeologist?
The key influences were the two professors I started working with as an undergraduate, Diana Crader and Steve Dyson. Diana was a physical anthropologist and zooarchaeologist, and had started working on a consulting project to study the faunal remains from Monticello, which became the project for one of our classes. Steve was sending the students on excavation projects on local historical sites, so got us into fieldwork (the fun part) immediately. Steve was a classicist, but was working on a comparative colonialism volume that had a chapter from Mary Beaudry, so when it came time for graduate school his advice was to go work with her. Basically I just fell in with the wrong crowd! : )
What is the first site you worked on? What is the last one (or current one)?
One of the first sites was an apothecary shop in Middletown, CT. Great artifacts for a first dig! I'm currently working with other team of archaeologists to start an international project, but we're still making site appraisals to determine where exactly we plan on excavating.
What are you currently reading?
You mean besides Game of Thrones, right?
Cooler Smarter: Practical Steps for Low-Carbon Living, by the Union of Concerned Scientists.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
The first job I can remember wanting to have was an architect. I went to college thinking I was going to be an international development economist, and ended up with an economics major and an undergraduate honors thesis in archaeology.
Why are you a member of SHA?
SHA is my primary professional organization and it would be hard to imagine not belonging!
At what point in your career did you first join SHA?
I think I was just starting graduate school at the University of North Carolina the SHA conference came to Wilmington. I missed the conference, but that was the first time I understood that this professional organization existed, and I joined shortly thereafter.
How many years have you been a member (approximately)?
I've been a member for just about 3 years. I look forward to more years ahead!
Which benefit of belonging to SHA do you find the most beneficial?
I enjoy the conferences and the collegiality of the organization. I still remember the sensation of first publishing in Historical Archaeology- I was amazed and thrilled to think that something I wrote was being mailed out to so many people I respected. Still a wonderful feeling!