Upon accepting her position in 1967, Dr. O'Brien developed her research into the ancestral Native American societies of this region. During the 1968 Fall semester, she instructed her first local Archaeological Field Methods course, continuing the investigation started by Dr. Stanislawski. Over the next two years, Dr. O’Brien continued excavations at the Lonergan site with K-State students. She provided them with instruction in proper field excavation techniques and the importance of precise documentation of their finds.
In her early years at K-State, Dr. O'Brien forged a decades-long collaboration with Dr. Alfred E. Johnson, professor of Anthropology at the University of Kansas (KU). Through this partnership, K-State and KU developed a summer archaeological field training program for undergraduate and graduate students. The first joint endeavor was the 1968 Great Plains Archaeological Field School.
Kansas and out-of-state students enrolled in academic credit for hands-on training at various sites in eastern Kansas and nearby parts of Missouri. Drs. O'Brien, Johnson, and, later, other K-State and KU archaeologists developed research projects that served as learning opportunities for interested students.
Instruction occurred with students from different institutions working side-by-side with faculty. Because of the location of the sites that were investigated, the students and faculty lived together away from campus. Communal lodging was provided in school buildings, dormitories at other institutions, farmhouses, and even a locker room with concession stand for kitchen facilities!
Transportation and food were provided. Summer archaeological field schools were wonderful opportunities not just for learning about archaeological field methods and research, but also for bonding with other students and getting to know one's faculty as both instructors and leaders of a research team while living, working, and learning together.
Drs. Johnson and O'Brien began their summer field schools with the help of grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Each of the late 1960s applications asked for nearly $20,000 to cover logistical, teaching, and research costs. This would be equivalent to roughly $161,000 today! Much of this was used to house and sustain up to 20 undergraduate and graduate students as they participated in an 8-week-long summer field school. Funding was received from NSF the first couple years, but ended in 1969. Both professors then recruited funding from their institutions before joining with a well-established archaeology program at the University of Missouri in 1970. These early collaborative summer training and research projects were held in northeastern Kansas, northwestern Missouri, and central Missouri.
K-State Archaeology Through the Decades: 1970s
