About two years ago, Maryland Avenue Montessori School discovered a long-forgotten cemetery on their school grounds. Archaeologists from UW-Milwaukee’s Anthropology Department spent months excavating the cemetery, researching its inhabitants, and documenting their findings.
After the excavations were complete, the archaeologists presented their findings at a curriculum event for the Maryland Avenue students. They taught their young audience not only about the cemetery, but about the methods that archaeologists use to uncover the past, including how to conduct a dig and how to match old maps and photographs to their current locations on the school grounds.
If you’re not part of the Maryland Avenue school community, you probably didn’t learn about the excavation or the curriculum event. Don’t worry; Emerson Neczek made sure that no one will miss out on the fun, thanks to two documentaries she created showcasing the Anthropology Department’s hard work.
Neczek graduated in May with a BFA from the Peck School of the Arts. She majored in art education with a minor in film, proving that no matter your interests, working together across different disciplines leads to exciting results.
Art and anthropology
Neczek has always been interested in art and film, but she also has an abiding love for anthropology.
“I am just enamored by evolution … and how much we are still looking into the past to tell us about where we are, where we came from, and to tell us about our future,” she said. “I also love the cultural part of anthropology. I love how humans connect with each other.”
She chose to attend UW-Milwaukee because the university has great programs for all three subjects. Even though Neczek eventually settled on an art education major, she sought opportunities to work with the Anthropology Department so she could continue learning about her passion.
That led her to Assistant Professor Jennifer Haas, the director of UWM’s Archaeological Research Laboratory Center (ARLC). Haas had an opportunity that was tailor-made for someone interested in anthropology and arts education: The ARLC had recently excavated the cemetery on the grounds of the Maryland Avenue Montessori School, and school principal Joe DiCarlo wanted to work with UWM to do an outreach event explaining the archaeological process to his students.
Neczek helped organize and direct the event, but she took it one step further.
“I knew I wanted to document the curriculum event,” she said. “Simultaneously, I had been preparing a film crew to document the … event and then help me with interviews with the archaeologists over the summer.”
The result was a two-part documentary, published in March on the Anthropology Department’s website.
“I got the curriculum event done in one video, but I just felt like if I were watching this for the first time, I would want to know more about the history (of the Maryland Avenue cemetery),” Neczek said. “The first video covers the curriculum event and why it was important to integrate archaeological research into four immersive activities for students at Maryland Avenue. The second video dives into more of the historical research and origins of the cemetery as a result of the cholera outbreak of 1849.”
Collaboration leads to richer experiences
To make her documentaries, Neczek relied on a film crew to capture footage during the school event, and she conducted her own research using primary sources like maps, photographs, and historical records to help her viewers learn more about the cemetery.
When people watch the films, she hopes that they will feel an appreciation for hidden history of their community.
“I hope viewers feel more connected to the city and Milwaukee’s history. I also hope that they know, after watching these videos, how important archaeology is and the preservation and research of the past,” she said.
And she hopes that viewers will gain a better understanding of the impact of UWM’s team of archaeologists.
“So many people associate archaeology with Indiana Jones, and that is a very a Hollywood version of archaeology, but that’s not realistic,” Neczek said. “I hope that it also helps support what archaeology is, and how important it is for us to continue to fund it and research it and look for those opportunities in it.”
“I could not be more proud of Emerson and what she accomplished,” said Haas. “From the very beginning, she had a clear vision for this project and the determination to see it through. She brought professionalism, creativity, and enthusiasm to every stage of the work, leading a complex public outreach effort while collaborating seamlessly with fellow students, Milwaukee Public Schools administrators and educators, and professional archaeologists. What impressed me most was her ability to transform academic research into meaningful community engagement. Emerson helped develop a hands-on archaeology curriculum for elementary students and shared the project’s story through short films, making archaeology accessible and engaging for both young learners and the broader community.”
Neczek was recognized for her work with the Panther Edge Student Employment Award at the UWM Undergraduate Research Symposium in April.
You can watch Neczek’s documentaries below.
By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science
Part 1:
Part 2: