MAJOR UNITED STATES RESEARCH TRIPS SERIES
    

August 13 to September 21, 2003 Research Trip Highlights
  
Research Trip to the United States: Ottawa (Canada) / Springfield (Illinois) / St. Louis (Missouri) ~ August 13 to September 21, 2003  

"The elegant post-on-sill frame house was built during the period 1800 to 1802 for the fur trader and entrepreneur Pierre Menard ...Constructed behind the home was a smokehouse ... that still stands.

An e-mail will be sent to determine if they have the answers to some of the questions that the Fortress has re its "charpente" constructions. The reply will be posted here when it is received.

• Illinois Historic Preservation Agency Web Site: state.il.us/hpa/lib/default.htm [not presently active]

The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. The Agency operates over 60 historic sites and memorials.

• Illinois Historic Preservation Agency e-mail: Info@ihpa.state.il.us

• Illinois Historic Preservation Agency Library Web Site: state.il.us/hpa/lib/default.htm [not presently active]

The Illinois State Historical Library is the premier repository for materials relating to the history of the Prairie State. The ISHL was created in 1889 by the Illinois General Assembly, which charged the new library with collecting and preserving "books, pamphlets, manuscripts, monographs, writings, and other materials of historical interest and useful to the historian, bearing upon the political, religious, or social history of the State of Illinois from the earliest known period of time."

E-MAIL SENT

To whom it may concern:

First, let me introduce myself. I am now retired from the Fortress of Louisbourg, National Historical Site, Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, Canada, where for 25 years I was an historian and Historical Records Supervisor. If you wish to know more about me, please consult my web at: http://www.krausehouse.ca/krause/

In September of this year, I was on a historical research trip that took me to, among other places, the Illinois State Archives where I found much in my area of interest: 18th century French construction techniques and materials which the Fortress of Louisbourg might find useful. Their official research site (for which I am web master) is as follows: Web fortress.uccb.ns.ca

For your interest, the Fortress of Louisbourg is the largest reconstruction project of its type ever undertaken in North America

Now to the point. I also visited the following sites:

• (1) Lincoln New Salem State Historic Site
• (2) Cahokia Courthouse
• (3) Pierre Menard House
• (4) Fort de Chartres
• (5) Kaskaskia Bell

Since each of the first four may have an associated historical structural record that guides you in their interpretation, I am interested in what that might be. A list of any published, and, in particular, unpublished in-house reports would be useful as would that of any reconstruction or building plans that you may have developed.

As some examples of my interest, what would be the basis for the following:

(1) Lincoln New Salem State Historic Site

• - the wooden strap hinges/pintles
• - the wooden gutters found on most of the buildings
• - the exterior wooden chimney stacks
• - the single sash windows that swiveled vertically on central wooden pins
• - the raised hearths that were finished-off by a wooden sloped border placed between them and the wooden flooring

(2) Cahokia Courthouse (3) Pierre Menard House (4) Fort de Chartres

• - the 1/2 timber joinery

(5) Kaskaskia Bell

• - This bell weighed 650 pounds compared to the 18th-century Louisbourg Hospital bell (200£) or the Louisbourg King's Bastion bell (3 1/2 foot diameter). What are the precise dimensions of the Kaskaskia bell?

Thanks

Eric

• THEIR REPLY:

Dear Mr. Krause:

I have at hand your research request of 28 September 2003.

I would be happy to send you some of the unpublished historic structures
reports we have on hand regarding the sites mentioned in your email.
Please forward me a mailing address and I will have those copied for you.

Also, several of these sites are listed on the Historic American Buildings
Survey which can be found on the Library of Congress Website. The site
includes photos and drawings. With regard to French architecture, I can
recommend to you any book by Charles Peterson, who specializes in Cahokia
and St. Louis architecture, Carl Ekberg has written a very detailed account
on the Bolduc house at Ste. Genevieve and Jay Edwards is an expert in the
field of French architecture. He has published extensively on the subject.

As for the dimensions of the bell, I am unable to put my hands on a report
we had done a few years ago. I will keep looking for it and see what I can
find.

I hope this helps you in your research.

Sincerely,

Erin I. Bishop, Ph.D.
Sites Division
Illinois Historic Preservation Agency
313 South Sixth Street
Springfield, IL 62701
217-782-8403

Erin_Bishop@IHPA.state.il.us

• MY REPLY:

Hello Dr. Erin:

Thanks for the prompt and informative reply. The unpublished reports are more than appreciated, and after I read through them, I will deposit them with the extensive holdings of the Fortress of Louisbourg Library. Should you ever wish to consult their holdings, they, and other research materials, are available on the research site of the Fortress of Louisbourg which is maintained by the Louisbourg Institute at:
Web fortress.uccb.ns.ca/menus/Fwlbcat.htm

Looking forward to the Bell dimensions as well, if and when, you can locate them. No rush of course.

My mailing address is:

Eric Krause
62 Woodill Street,
Sydney, Nova Scotia,
B1P 4N9

Thanks

Eric

• Received from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and Placed in the Library of the Fortress of Louisbourg

  - Jay D. Edwards, The Pierre Menard House and its Architectural Setting (F. B. Kniffen Cultural Resources Lab, Department of Geography & Anthropology, Louisiana State University, December, 1999)