The Benefits of Public Outreach: Examples from the Illiana Corridor Project in Will County, IL

Although the trowel is considered to be the quintessential tool of archaeology, an underappreciated and equally important tool every archaeologist should keep in their toolbox is public outreach and discourse. Public outreach can take many forms e.g. newspaper articles, lectures, museum displays; however these efforts can be one-sided with information primarily flowing from the archaeologist to the public. In this paper I argue that public outreach can benefit the archaeologist as well as the public. Throughout Phase I investigations of the I Iliana Corridor I incorporated traditional outreach techniques including articles and presentations with in depth landowner and local collector interviews. The results of these efforts were wide ranging and led to a better informed community with a renewed sense of place in their local history as wells as a better informed archaeologist rich with new data, friends, and purpose.