Built just after the end of the Civil War, the Sutter-Meyer House is the oldest
standing home in University City, Missouri. The original owners were some of the
first dairy farmers in the area, beginning in the 1830s. The names of nearby
streets reflect the influence of these early inhabitants and, at one point, the
local community that grew up around this farm was large enough to be given it's
own post office.

The current owner, the City of University City, has kindly given the Mound City
Archaeological Society permission to conduct an archaeological survey of the
property on which this house sits to see if we can help add to what is already
known about this locally important historical site. We are doing this with the
guidance and supervision of Dr. Carol Diaz-Granados, a professor of Anthropology
at Washington University in St. Louis.

We began our fieldwork a few weeks ago with a preliminary survey of the property
and collected artifacts from test units around the outside perimeter of the
house. This weekend, September 25 and 26, we will pick up where we left off and
re-open a one-by-two meter unit north of the house, trying to find the remnants
of some of the outbuildings that once existed in that area.

If we can get enough volunteers (on this admittedly short notice), we would like
to open up a couple more units to take advantage of the excellent weather that
has been forecasted. If you would like to participate, please call or e-mail me
as soon as you can at (314) 704-3507 or bgpaulus@.... You do not
need to commit to both days or even an entire day, however, it would probably be
best if you could spare a block of at least three or four hours on either day
between the hours of 8:30am and 5:30pm.

If you can't participate this weekend, but might be available some other time,
please let me know and I'll gladly add you to the list of potential volunteers.
Also, if you'd like to just stop by to visit and view our progress, please feel
free to contact me and I'll be happy to give you directions to the site.

By the way, if you get my voice-mail, please leave a message and I'll call you
back just as soon as I can.

Thanks and have a nice day,

Greg

Greg Paulus
President, Mound City Archaeological Society
bgpaulus@...
(314) 704-3507