First Friday returns on Aug. 7 for a special presentation from archaeologist Richard Boston! 

In 2016, Boston and his family donated a quilt made by his great great grandmother, Caroline Boston, featuring 320 hand-embroidered names of Civil War-era veterans and their miltary units. 

In January 1862, Caroline's husband, James, enlisted in the Union Army and was severely wounded in the Battle of Big Hatchie nearly nine months later. After James was sent to a hospital in St. Louis, Caroline left Illinois for Missouri and became an Army nurse. After the war, Caroline and two of her daughters made the quilt embroidering names of soldiers from 25 U.S. states. For more than 12 years, Richard — a retired National Park Service archaeologist — helped his family research all 320 names on the quilt. This presentation will focus on this research and the family quilt that sparked his interest. 

ABOUT RICHARD BOSTON:

Mr. Boston grew up in Beatrice, Nebraska, and after graduation served eight years in the U.S. Marine Corps. After his discharge from the Marines, Mr. Boston spent 7 years as an Avionics Design Engineer. In 1981, he returned to college to fulfill his boyhood dream of becoming an Anthropologist. His undergraduate degree in Anthropology is from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and his master’s degree, also in Anthropology, is from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ. He has more than 30 years of experience, as a professional Archaeologist in the American Southwest and Hawaii. In 2014 Richard retired from the National Park Service and subsequently formed a for-profit firm, Boston Archaeological Consulting LLC., and worked on several Federal projects in a consulting capacity.