30 Year History
In the Beginning - William Wilfrid Jury
The Museum of Ontario Archaeology had its earliest beginnings at The University of Western Ontario with the grand vision of Wilfrid Jury(1890-1981). The Museum grew out of a collection of artifacts started by young Wilf Jury and his father, Amos Jury(1861-1964) in the early part of this century. From those early days of relic collecting came a lifelong career for Wilfrid Jury and the London Museum of Archaeology, an institution that is one of the finest archaeological research and interpretive centres in Canada.
When Wilfrid began to collect, his artifacts were kept in his home on the family farm and they were carefully catalogued in a small notebook. In 1923 his collection contained only 45 items. Wilfrid and his father acquired Native artifacts collected by farmers walking behind horse-drawn tools and pioneer farming equipment which had been replaced by more modern pieces. Ultimately, the collection of Native artifacts became the best display-quality collection in Southwestern Ontario.
The University Connection
The university connection began in an informal way in 1927 when the Jurys were invited to display part of their collection at the university library in University College. Those involved in the invitation were Sherwood Fox, President of the University; Fred Landon, University Librarian; Arthur Ford, Editor of the London Free Press and Chairman of the University Board of Governors; and Ray Lawson, a prominent businessman, owner of the Lawson Indian village site, and later Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.
In 1933, when plans for the Lawson Memorial Library were being made, Ray Lawson requested that space be provided in the building for a museum. This required a formal arrangement and The Museum of Indian Archaeology and Pioneer Life with Amos Jury as an Honorary Curator and Wilfrid Jury as a Curator originates from this period. The new Lawson Library was built in 1934 and the museum was housed there for the next 26 years.
From 1933 to 1944, Wilfrid conducted small scale investigations at a number of sites in Southwestern Ontario, including the stratified Clearville site and the Moraviantown settlement near Chatham.
In the late 1930s, Wilfrid began to publish the Bulletin, a monograph which detailed the results of his excavations.
In 1945, the university appointed Wilfrid as a paid Curator. He received an annual salary of $2000, which made him one of a few salaried archaeologists in Canada.
After World War II, Wilfrid shifted his area of research to Huronia, where he continued his investigation of many sites including Ste. Marie Among the Hurons, the Jesuit mission occupied between 1639 and 1649 and the prehistoric Huron Forget village site. In 1954, he re-created the Indian Village in Midland, the first such reconstruction in the province. Wilfrid also was the first archaeologist in Canada to teach archaeological field schools for the University of Western Ontario's School of Part-Time and Continuing Education.
In the fall of 1960, when Wilfrid was 69, the museum was moved from the Lawson Library to Middlesex College. The collection of Indian artifacts, guns and swords, and the two pioneer models were exhibited in the foyer of the third floor while the Indian village model was installed in one of the lecture halls.
In 1969, Wilfrid encouraged Colonel Tom Lawson to donate the Lawson site, a Neutral Indian village in northwest London, to The University of Western Ontario. He also arranged for the donation by Elizabeth Klinger and Martha Hamilton of the Fuller family a piece of land adjacent to the site.
Years of Transition
In 1973, the Office of the President of the University established an ad hoc committee to study a request by The University of Western Ontario Alumni Association that plans be made to develop the Lawson site and to create a permanent home for the Wilfrid Jury Collection of Indian Artifacts. Dr. David Chambers, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and William D. Finlayson, a lecturer in the newly formed Department of Anthropology, were appointed to this committee.
The committee submitted its report to the Office of the President in the mid 1970s. A two-phase plan for the revitalization of the museum was proposed. The first phase was the creation of a display gallery, additional offices, laboratories and storage facilities on the university campus. The second phase was the construction of a new museum beside the Lawson site.
To facilitate the revitalization, responsibility for the museum was transferred from the Office of the President to the Faculty of Social Sciences. William D. Finlayson, having completed his Ph.D., was appointed as Executive Director on July 1, 1976.
Finlayson envisioned a university-based archaeological research centre with a display gallery and public programs that would include the ongoing excavation of the site. A partial reconstruction of the Lawson prehistoric Indian village would take shape beside a modern, environmentally-controlled museum building.
On February 28, 1978, the museum was incorporated as a corporation without share capital and as a registered charitable organization with its directors being approved by the Board of Governors of the university. The museum's name was changed to The Museum of Indian Archaeology (London).
The first phase of the revitalization of the museum was made possible by a major grant from the Richard and Jean Ivey Fund. On March 31, 1978, a new exhibit gallery was opened in Somerville House on the university campus. The gallery presented exhibits on the archaeology and prehistory of Southwestern Ontario. Included in the exhibition were the Jurys' models of a Neutral Indian village, the pioneer sawmill, and pioneer farmstead.
Additional office, laboratory, and storage space was acquired on the lower floor of Middlesex College to accommodate the museum's revitalized program of archaeological research.
Museum staff taught a variety of university courses for the Department of Anthropology, the Program in Journalism for Native People at the School of Journalism, and the Faculty of Part-Time and Continuing Education at The University of Western Ontario. Courses in Anthropology were also taught at Erindale College, University of Toronto.
In the fall of 1978, planning for the second phase of the development of the museum was initiated. Plans were prepared for a 15,000 square foot museum building beside the Lawson site, northwest of the university campus, and a $1,500,000 fundraising campaign was launched.
Our Goals and Beliefs
When the museum was incorporated in 1978, the new Board of Directors established a mission statement which provided a focus and direction for future work. This mission statement is:
To provide knowledge, education, leadership, expertise, and innovation in and/or about archaeology, Native prehistory and early history in Southern Ontario to the academic, educational, public, Native, museological, business and industrial communities; To collect, record, preserve, and display artifacts and data on local heritage; To identify, document, research, excavate, and/or preserve archaeological sites as heritage resources and to increase public awareness of the non-renewable nature of these resources; To be a contributing member to the work and community services of The University of Western Ontario.
The Lawson Jury Building
In the fall of 1980, a ground-breaking ceremony was held for the new museum building beside the Lawson site. The building was called the Lawson-Jury Building after the two men who had the most profound affect on the museum - Colonel Tom Lawson, the son of Ray Lawson mentioned above, and museum founder, Dr. Wilfrid Jury. As 200 people watched, 90-year-old Wilfrid had the honour of turning the first sod.
Before the construction began, an archaeological assessment was carried out by museum staff. Stone tools were discovered which indicated that a 4,000-year-old campsite once occupied the area which had been chosen for the museum. The site was named "Spook Hallow " after pioneer legends which claimed Snake Creek was haunted.
London architect Wilfrid B. Lamb was commissioned to design a building that would be functional yet complement the natural and historic surroundings. The result was a semi-subterranean structure with a massive earth berm covered in wood chips and topped with a wooden palisade fence, thus integrating the design of the building with the reconstructed Lawson Indian village palisade.
The southerly orientation of the office and laboratory windows provides passive solar heating and a view of the ravine. Climate controls were installed in the gallery and storage areas to control the temperature and humidity levels provide proper conservation of the collection.
Approximately one third of the Lawson-Jury Building is open to the public. The gallery hosts the permanent exhibition "The 11,000 Year History of Occupation of Southwestern Ontario" for which a large selection of artifacts from the Jury collection and colourful murals by Hamilton artist Ivan Kocsis interpret changes in culture and technology through time. In 1987, "Back to Our Future, " a complementary exhibit on the museum's excavations on the Keffer Site near Toronto, was added. Both exhibits were created by John Moroz and Debra Bodner.
In 1985, the original figures and structures created by Amos and Wilfrid Jury for the model interpreting the first meeting between the Jesuits and the Neutral people were restored and incorporated in a diorama not unlike the Middlesex College original. Therefore, one of our most visually stimulating teaching aids from our past was given new life and has become another permanent fixture in the gallery.
A theatre offers the opportunity for films, slide series, and lectures. A craft room is available for larger school groups. There is also an area for temporary or travelling exhibits within the gallery.
A popular stop on a visitor's tour is "The Quill Box " Gift Shop located in the front lobby. Operated by volunteers, it offers a wide variety of Native art, crafts and books.
In the background are offices for staff and visiting scholars. The Honorary Curator's office was furnished by Elsie Jury to be very similar to the office from which she and Wilfrid directed their research. There is also a library and conference area, laboratories containing microscopes, storage racks, and personal computers.
One of the largest spaces is devoted to our ever-expanding artifact collection which at the last count contained more than two million artifacts.
Over the years, many distinguished guests, including His Royal Highness Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, have visited the museum.
A glance at the signatures in our visitors guest book displays a surprising variety of backgrounds and languages.
Public Archaeology at the Lawson Site
The Lawson site is a 500-year-old Neutral Indian village situated on a flat plateau overlooking the confluence of Medway River and Snake Creek in northwest London. Prehistoric Neutral Indians selected this location for a major village due to its defensible characteristics, access to water, and proximity to a wide variety of animals, fish and wild plants which would have inhabited the Medway River and Snake Creek ravines.
The site is 2 hectares (5 acres) in size and was occupied by an estimated 2000 people. It is one of the many known prehistoric Neutral sites but one of only a few where earthworks are preserved. Earthworks were linear mounds of earth about one metre in height which were deliberately piled up to help support the palisades that surrounded the village. These earthworks remain visible on the undisturbed portion of the site.
Three-quarters of the Lawson site remains covered by trees and is undisturbed. The northern quarter of the site had been cleared for agriculture in the mid to late 1800's and was farmed up to 1975. Prior to 1920, the Lawson family purchased the undisturbed portion of the site. The first detailed scientific excavation of the site was carried out in the summers of 1921, 1922 and 1923 by William J. Wintemberg of the Victoria Museum, Ottawa (today the Canadian Museum of Civilization). Wilfrid Jury, Amos Jury, and Tom Lawson met Wintemberg at that time and he further stimulated their interest in archaeology. Wilfrid and Amos later excavated portions of the site in the 1930's and 1940's.
The first modern excavations were conducted at the site in 1976 by William D. Finlayson with an archaeological field school from the Department of Anthropology at The University of Western Ontario.
In 1978 museum archaeologist Robert J. Pearce began to direct public excavations and reconstruction at the site. Major excavations, focusing on the ploughed, disturbed northern portion of the site, were undertaken between 1978 and 1981. Annual excavations since then have contributed to our understanding of this complex site and also serve to demonstrate archaeological techniques to the public.
Reconstruction of one longhouse and of the palisades and earthworks around the northern periphery of the site was initiated in 1978 and continues today. The Lawson site is the only prehistoric archaeological site in Canada which has ongoing excavation and reconstruction open to the public. It continues to receive local, provincial, national and international recognition and to attract visitors from all corners of the world.
Lawson was the only archaeological site in Canada to be featured in the National Geographic Society's book America's Ancient Cities. The artifacts and data from the site have been researched not only by the museum's archaeologists, but by scholars from the United States, Germany, Great Britain and elsewhere.
Museum archaeologists have also discovered and excavated a series of cabin sites, all found within five kilometres of, and associated with, the Lawson village. Each site had a single longhouse or cabin occupied by women, children and a few men each year from spring until fall. Crops (corn, beans, squash, sunflowers) were planted, animals were hunted, fish were caught, and tools were made. In the late fall, the inhabitants of each cabin returned to the Lawson village with an ample store of food for use during the winter months.
There are also many small camps and isolated sites where a few artifacts have been found. These demonstrate utilization of the lands surrounding the Lawson site. This settlement pattern appears to be unique to the prehistoric Neutral who lived in the London area 500 years ago.
The Lawson site has long been recognized as a significant heritage resource; its history parallels the development of archaeology in Ontario, from relic-hunting to scientific research. This research potential was first realized by Dr. Solon Woolverton, David Boyle, Roland Orr, William J. Wintemberg, and Wilfrid Jury. Research continues today with the programs of the Museum of Ontario Archaeology.
Archaeological Research - Sites and Artifacts
With the appointment of William D. Finlayson as Executive Director, the museum became a major centre for archaeological research in Ontario. Not since the days of Ste. Marie Among the Hurons had such a level of research activity been achieved.
Regional research programs were established in the Crawford Lake area and in the City of London. Large-scale projects were undertaken at the new Toronto International Airport (Draper and White sites), the Keffer site near Toronto, and on the Christian Island Indian Reserve in Georgian Bay.
Archaeological surveys and salvage excavations have been conducted in numerous areas in Southwestern and Southcentral Ontario as part of Cultural Resource Management programs mandated by the Government of Ontario. Unlike private sector projects, the museum's objective is knowledge, not profit. In addition, the museum has become a leader in the application of computer technology to archaeological research.
In 1974, Finlayson, while still in the Department of Anthropology, agreed to direct major rescue excavations at the Draper site at the proposed new Toronto International Airport. This project, which began in 1975 and continued until 1979 in the field, became one of the largest archaeological projects in the history of Canadian archaeology.
The Draper site, a 16th century prehistoric Huron village covering nearly 3.5 hectares (8.6 acres), was almost totally excavated in 1975 and 1978, using crews of more than 60 individuals. The Draper excavations produced more than a million artifacts and also demonstrated that the site began as a 3-acre village occupied by approximately 450 people and expanded five times to become a town of almost 2000 people. The project provided the opportunity to experiment with the use of power equipment such as road graders to dig Iroquoian villages and in the use of computers to process and analyze artifacts and data.
Between 1976 and 1978, the archaeological survey of 5,280 hectares (13,047 acres) of land expropriated for airport construction led to the investigation of seven known sites and discovery of 125 new sites.
In addition, seven other prehistoric Huron sites were investigated: two were totally excavated (White, 1974-1976, Robin Hood 1978), and five were tested (Spang, Pugh, Webb I, Webb II and Best 1978-1979). This project was funded by Transport Canada, Archaeological Survey of Canada (National Museums of Canada) and Canada Council/Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and other agencies. Some results of specific components of this project have been published as museum Research Reports and in scholarly journals.
One highlight of the project was a 600-page monograph prepared by Finlayson, and published by the National Museums of Canada. Other highlights included a 30-minute film, and a multimedia kit, both entitled "To Know the Huron, " both of which have earned international awards.
During 1976, the museum carried out detailed excavations for Parks Canada (now Environment Canada-Parks) at the Southwold Earthworks site near St. Thomas. The site had first been investigated by William J. Wintemberg and Wilfrid Jury in 1935, and the museum's 1976 excavation provided fundamental information concerning the number, size, and placement of longhouses within the village.
Former museum archaeologists David G. Smith and Dana Poulton carried out archaeological survey projects in two areas of Elgin County (Talbot Creek and Catfish Creek drainages near St. Thomas) between 1977 and 1980. These projects resulted in the discovery or investigation of 169 sites; only a few of which were previously known. Nearly 7,500 artifacts were recovered.
In 1977, the museum began to provide consultant services in the field of Cultural Resource Management. This entails background studies, archaeological resource assessments, excavations of significant sites, preparation of reports, and the curation of artifacts and data for various clients. Such work is required as a part of the development review process by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Recreation, as part of environmental assessments for projects such as landfill facilities or corridors for pipelines, highways and Hydro transmission lines, or as part of environmental impact assessment work required under various Federal and Provincial acts, statues or regulations.
The rationale for this work is that archaeological and historic sites are regarded as nonrenewable resources which must be studied.
The identification of potentially significant sites early in the planning process can ensure those sites are preserved by modifying development plans or documented through fieldwork to recover information before they would otherwise be destroyed.
Since 1977 the museum has completed more than 400 Cultural Resource Management projects, involving field surveys of 8,552 hectares (21,132 acres) - an area of land equal to 14,302 Canadian football fields. This work alone has resulted in the discovery or investigation of 830 sites; 103 of which the museum has partially or totally excavated.
These surveys and excavations have taken our crews to many localities throughout all parts of Southern Ontario (Windsor to Fort Erie to Kingston and Ottawa) and to a handful of places in northern Ontario, with 795,112 artifacts being added to the museum's collections from this work.
There have been many interesting and exciting discoveries from the museum's work in this field; some of these are highlighted next:
Discovery and excavation of several Archaic period (8000 to 1000 B.C.) camp sites in or near London, Fort Erie, Niagra Falls, Mississauga, Kitchener-Waterloo, Princeton. Discovery and excavation of three undisturbed Middle Woodland period (300 B.C. to 500 A.D.) camp sites in the London area. Excavation of three undisturbed camp sites in "Matthews Woods " in southeast London. These extremely rich and important sites had several distinct components spanning all prehistoric periods from Paleo (8500 B.C.) to Iroquoian (1400-1500 A.D.). This project resulted in museum staff preparing a popular book, "London, Ontario: The First 11,000 Years" and a permanent display which was installed at the London Board of Education's Westminster Ponds Environmental Centre. Discovery and excavation of numerous pioneer log cabins and homesteads in London, Mississauga, Kitchener-Waterloo and elsewhere. For example, in Richmond Hill we excavated the Wise family pioneer homestead and a small family cemetery with six graves. As part of research and Cultural Resource Management, the museum maintains computer databases for all sites investigated. Our database for the City of London alone contains detailed records for 334 sites; 274 (82%) of which were discovered by the museum.
