James A. Clark, Jr. Collection Inventory Grant

Applications must be submitted by August 31, 2023

This grant is being awarded by the Wisconsin Archeological Society in the name of James A. Clark, Jr. in recognition of the significant contributions he made as a professional in the field of Wisconsin archaeology. A brief biography is attached to this document. Jimmy was a long-time member of the Wisconsin Archeological Society, serving as the President, Vice-President and a member of the Board of Directors. During his career, he participated in numerous archaeological investigations, as well as amassing an extensive collection from farmlands primarily in Winnebago County. Jimmy donated his collection to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. A memorandum between the two universities resulted in the complete collection now residing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

The purpose of the grant is to prepare the James A. Clark, Jr. collection for long-term curation at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee so that his life-long work is accessible for archaeological research. The grant awardee will begin the catalogue process for the collection. Jimmy’s family and friends have generously donated funds to the Wisconsin Archeological Society for this work.

The work consists of

1) cataloguing the contents of the boxes of the collection,

2) providing a general description of the cultural material in each box by the site where the materials were found,

3) rehousing the materials as needed, and

4) compiling a write-up of the results for future researchers to use.

No experience in archaeology, cataloguing or curation is necessary to apply for the grant. The staff at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Archaeological Research Laboratory Center will train and supervise the awardee. Applicants must be a current member of the Wisconsin Archeological Society. To become a member, information is available on the WAS website, http://wiarcheologicalsociety.org.

A stipend of $2500 is being awarded for the project. It is estimated that the work will take approximately 120 hours to complete. The awardee must be able to work at the repository at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee between the hours of 8AM to 4:30PM, Monday through Friday. A flexible weekly schedule is possible; with work starting in October and finishing in December. No work with the collection outside of the repository is permitted as no material may leave the repository.

The awardee will keep a time and expenses sheet to be signed by the repository supervisor and submitted with an invoice to the Treasurer of the Wisconsin Archeological Society at the end of the project.

To Apply:

The application form and evaluation criteria can be found below. Fill in all the required information on the application form. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Applications must be received by email at cydstil@newnorth.net no later than August 31, 2023.

All applications will be reviewed by the Wisconsin Archaeological Society Awards and Grants Committee (see attached set of criteria which will be used to evaluate applications). Applicants will be notified by September 15, 2023 if they have been awarded the grant.

Completion of Grant:

At the end of the grant, a brief report (2-3 paragraphs) describing the work that the awardee completed, plus a photograph of the awardee at work is to be sent to cydstil@newnorth.net. This report will be uploaded to the Wisconsin Archeological Society website and Facebook page and printed in the newsletter.

The application and evaluation criteria are available for download here:

James A. Clark, Jr. Inventory Grant Application

James A. Clark, Jr. Inventory Grant Evaluation Criteria

BIOGRAPHY

James Angus Clark Jr.
May 10, 1949 — November 23, 2022

(compiled by his friends and family)

James Angus Clark, Jr. was born in Neenah, Wisconsin on 10 May 1949 and passed on to his next great adventure in Oshkosh, Wisconsin on 23 November 2022 after dealing with severe health problems in recent years.

Jimmy graduated from Winneconne High School in 1967. While there he set an unofficial pole vault record which held for many years – unofficial because he got into trouble for brushing his hair down over his forehead Beatles style and was not allowed to compete on the intermural team.

Jimmy grew up on the Clark farm on the north shore of Lake Winneconne. His interest in natural history and archaeology began in early childhood on the family farm. One of his first words was ‘trilobite.’ Although he never intended to be a farmer, he loved to explore the plowed fields, woods, marsh, and lake shore on the farm. From the time he was a young boy, he had a keen eye for noticing and collecting archaeological artifacts of the earliest inhabitants of the Clark and nearby farmlands in Winnebago County. But he was not content to find objects; he wanted to learn all that he could about the people who shaped and used them and their environment.

Jimmy grew up in a family that supported his interests, and he became so knowledgeable that he gave his first presentation - to the Winneconne Historical Society - when he was in the sixth grade. After Sunday mornings at the Allenville Baptist Church, Jimmy’s mother frequently drove the family to Oshkosh to spend the afternoon at the Oshkosh Museum. The natural history exhibits were Jimmy’s favorite. From age eight on, he conducted independent archaeological survey and cataloguing of specimens on the north shore of Lake Winneconne and in adjacent counties. These collections are now housed for research purposes at UW-Milwaukee.

Jimmy was a member of the Wisconsin Archeological Society for which he served as Vice-President (1991), President (1991-92), and for several years on the Board of Directors. He was one of a few members of the Wisconsin Archeological Survey who was not an academically trained, professional archaeologist.

Beginning in the early eighties, Jimmy began to work on field crews conducting surveys, excavations, and inventories. During his career, he was employed by the Center for Archaeological Research at Marquette University, Great Lakes Archaeological Research Center, B.Z. Engineering, Department of Natural Resources (Archaeological Division), and the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. He also assisted David Overstreet in his program for Menominee high school and college students in training them in field methods and techniques in archaeology. For several decades, he made valuable contributions to publications and presentations. In 1998 Jimmy was awarded the Increase A. Lapham Award by the Wisconsin Archeological Society.

Before health problems made it too difficult for him to carry on, Jimmy taught elementary and middle school students in field classes for Crossroads at Big Creek in Door County, Wisconsin. Perhaps to his own surprise, he enjoyed this experience and was great with the kids. Jimmy built a remarkable career in archaeology. He was well liked and respected by his many wonderful colleagues and mentors, whom he greatly appreciated.

As a shareholder in the Clark’s Bay Corporation which owns and works to improve and conserve the land, he was able to continue his connection to the Clark farmland, which his great-grandfather had

occupied by 1850. This same great-grandfather was a fiddler, and it may have been through him that Jimmy inherited a gift for music, his other passion.

He learned to play guitar as a teenager and built a fun and successful complementary career in music. The first band Jimmy and his friends formed was named The Emanons. Even though they only played one gig for some college students, and his devoted mother had to collect band members and instruments after the third noise complaint and police visit, it was a start for Jimmy.

A more propitious music career launch came when he met Jules Blattner and joined the Warren Groovy All-Star Band. The band played up to 300 nights a year throughout the seventies. Other than the Beachcomber in Daytona Beach, Florida, these were mostly one-night stands throughout the Upper Midwest and the Southeast.

In 1989 Jimmy and Lee Weissgerber formed Five Guys with Day Jobs. For seventeen years, this very popular Milwaukee band played classic rock and roll songs at local bars, Bastille Days, Summerfest, and the Wisconsin State Fair.

The last band Jimmy played with was the Dave Olsen Band, which included his cousin, Russell, on drums. They played in local bars and river resorts from Green Bay to Fond du Lac. Jimmy really enjoyed the rhythm and blues along with the rock and roll these bands played.

Jimmy enjoyed seeing different areas of the United States. He travelled to Tahiti, Bora Bora, Guatemala, Jamaica, Bahamas, Canada, and southwestern France, where he was able to visit cave and rock shelter sites with a colleague. For many years, he made an annual winter visit to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico with his old band friend, Jules. On one trip, as Jimmy stood on the beach, smoking a cigarette and gazing out to sea, he realized a musician he had long admired stood only a few feet away doing the same - Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. He never said a word. He just enjoyed the moment…

Oh, how we miss him.