There are seven sites that compose The University of Alabama Museums. Some of them are on campus, such as the Gorgas House and the Alabama Museum of Natural History in Smith Hall. Others, such as the newly renovated Jones Museum at Moundville Archaeological Park, can be visited off campus.

At its peak, Moundville was once America’s largest city north of Mexico. Now, the park not only serves as a tourist attraction, but also as one of the premiere sites for students to get involved with volunteering and research.

Bill Bomar, director of Moundville Park, teaches a museum studies course through New College and the Department of American Studies.

“Several of my students have completed internships [at Moundville] or have volunteered to help with exhibit maintenance or public programming,” Bomar said. “We have a number of UA students who volunteer each year at the Moundville Native American Festival. This is a huge annual event, held the first week of October, usually attended by about 12,000 people over four days.

“We could not put on this event without several hundred volunteers, many of whom are students,” he said. “Also, we have commonly had students on our part-time staff at the park as admissions or gift shop cashiers. Students are also very involved in research at Moundville, both at the graduate and undergraduate levels.”

Robert Clouse, director of the Office of Archaeological Research, said students have contributed to the advancement of Moundville and there has also been an increase in student involvement at the park.

“As part of the overall renovation we had to archaeological research,” Clouse said, “A number of archaeology students—students from the anthropology department—were hired to do archaeological research. Since then there have been students who have been serving as docents or volunteers in the museum. We oftentimes hire students [in the Office of Archaeological Research] to be involved in archaeological research.

“There’s considerable potential for [involvement for] people that have an interest in museum studies or maybe even in marketing,” he said. “We had essentially no student involvement [prior to the renovation].”

Much of the student involvement is derived from research projects conducted through the archaeology and anthropology departments. John Blitz, an anthropology professor, leads excavations at Moundville each fall semester. Blitz has written a book, as well as scholarly articles, about Moundville.

“I encourage [student participation] at Moundville and seek out students in the introductory courses that might be interested,” Blitz said. “I tell them about the field school. Moundville has docents and they’re our students for the most part. That experience has also gotten them to participate in the field research part of it too. One thing that’s changed since the new museum would be that the Moundville Archaeological Park has taken on more students.”

Students can get involved with Moundville activities this summer during the interim semester when doctoral student Jeremy Davis will lead the field school excavation of portions of a prehistoric building that was discovered through innovative use of a magnetometer to create a geophysical survey. Davis has been working at Moundville since 2006.

“Moundville is of national importance and it’s right here on the outskirts of Tuscaloosa,” Davis said. “There’s no other place in Alabama that has something like [the opportunity of being involved at Moundville], especially that’s being actively researched by their professors. There are plenty of opportunities to get involved at Moundville from the National American Festival to the museum.

“Most people don’t know a lot about Moundville, but it’s extremely important,” he said. “I think as a result of the museum it’s going to get into the public eye a lot more.”

The Archaeology Field School course begins May 9. For more information, Davis can be contacted at [email protected].

The museum is home to more than 200 artifacts that were significant to Native American life, the Moundville website states. According to Clouse, the museum was built in 1930 to house exhibits that were built into the walls—the way museums used to present information. The renovations now allow the exhibits to tell a story.

For more information on Moundville visit Moundville.ua.edu, and to get involved contact Clouse at [email protected] or 371-8718.