Archaeology Research Collections at SMU

06/01/2026

05/20/2026

The Texas Historical Commission is hiring a Multimedia Specialist in Austin! If you’re passionate about video production and visual storytelling, apply now and help share Texas history statewide: https://capps.taleo.net/careersection/ex/jobdetail.ftl?job=00058298&tz=GMT-05%3A00&tzname=America%2FChicago

05/15/2026

"Annie Carpenter Love"

One of a family of 10 children, Tennessee-born Annie M. Carpenter grew up hearing stories of her pioneer forebears. She came to Navarro County with her parents in 1876. She taught school in this area before her marriage in 1901 to William F. Love. Determined to preserve a bit of local heritage, she collected historical objects during the 1930s for a museum room at the county courthouse. In 1933 she published her "History of Navarro County," based on research and interviews with surviving pioneers. For a time, Mrs. Love lived at this homestead in the Corbet community.

05/15/2026

"Hopewell Cemetery" (Navarro County)

Burials at this site on the 1846 Wilson Reed survey date from the 1860s. Hopewell Baptist Church, founded in 1866, erected a church building on adjoining property two years later. The earliest marked grave is that of an infant, John W. Pritchard, who died in 1870. Another gravestone bearing the date 1870 is that of William C. Fouty (1866-1870), is also interred here. In 1875 Joshua Parmer Cox (1824-1881) purchased from J. H. Manning property which included the cemetery site. Cox, whose grave is located here, donated the land beside the church for use as a public burial ground. When the railroad extended south from Corsicana, the town of Navarro (1 mi. N) was laid out and Hopewell Baptist Church moved there in 1907. Navarro became a thriving community, dependent on cattle and farming until the oil boom of the 1920s. The Hopewell Cemetery Association was organized in 1919. Before that time, families traditionally brought picnic lunches and gathered to tend the graveyard on annual workdays. In 1940 the cemetery was enlarged when two adjacent acres were purchased from Hugh and Irene Wilson. The 500 marked graves include those eof veterans of several wars.

05/05/2026

We made the The Daily Campus today!

A nice feature on the lab I direct and the work we're doing every day to preserve Texas archaeology.

https://smudailycampus.com/1069386/news/beneath-the-surface/

Thanks to Melanie Jackson for taking an interest and helping tell our story!

Located in the basement of Heroy Hall at SMU, under fluorescent lights in the Archeology Research Collection, lies a treasure trove of North Texas and international history spanning centuries. Artifacts line cabinets and shelves surrounding the lab. From arrowheads once used by Native American tribe...

04/22/2026

Barnard's Mill, Glen Rose, Texas (1972)