By Lydia Cain

Those who move on to graduate school may look at their undergraduate years as a separate stage of their academic career, whether or not they continue in the same field. Latching onto this perspective could close some doors. A fuller and more cohesive study of an anthropological subject is to be gained by approaching from more than one discipline and vantage point in an academic career timeline. Dr. Mark Groover and Dr. Cailín Murray of the Anthropology Department recognized this when opening the doors to the historical houses of Muncie for graduate student Cora Downing and undergraduate student Michael Laws. 

Before 2020, Dr. Murray had been studying the Town Lot Farm period in Muncie. Downing and Laws describe the period as being characterized by early, self-sustaining settlements starting approximately in the 1700s. Found bones, such as those at the Moore-Youse-Maxon House in the now “Gilbert” neighborhood of Muncie, support the idea that the settlers maintained livestock for their products and meat. However, Dr. Murray paused this part of her research during the COVID-19 pandemic. Upon her return to the topic, she decided that she would like to start engaging students in the research. While Dr. Murray and Dr. Groover were able to glean glimpses of Muncie town lot farms’ evolutions based on architectural and structural features of the lots over the years, the two took a special interest in painting a picture through food and consumerism. Items like recipes gleamed especially bright to Dr. Murray and Dr. Groover as they looked through family history collections, including the period. 

When Michael Laws, a sophomore Anthropology major, showed an interest in colonial-period food in one of Dr. Murray’s classes, she knew she had the perfect project to offer him. Cora Downing, who received her Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from the College of Sciences and Humanities in Spring 2024, was now a graduate assistant for the Department of Anthropology. As Downing was now pursuing her Master of Science in Historic Preservation at the College of Architecture and Planning, Dr. Murray and Dr. Groover had a duo of student researchers with much to offer and much to gain. After Michael earned admission into Ball State’s Teacher-Scholar program, both were funded to research the Town Lot Farm theme throughout Spring 2025.

To get started, the two would have to familiarize themselves with resources for archival research of early Muncie. Cora had visited the College of Architecture and Planning’s archives and Bracken Library archives before and was able to introduce Michael. Meanwhile, the Delaware County Historical Society was new to both of them. Dr. Groover and Dr. Murray encouraged them to stop by there and catch them up on the nature of the local family historical collections, such as those from the Emily Kimbrough, Moore-Youse-Maxon, and Neely houses. The students would get to forage through cookbooks, letters, farm inventories, and more pieces ranging from 1900 to 1950. They ensured that the students were acquainted with past research related to the period and theme as well. 

As Dr. Murray and Dr. Groover presented their current standing and angle taken in the investigation, Downing and Laws saw that they would get to uncover information on town lot farms’ architectural evolutions, the family histories inside them, and how both were intertwined with food consumerism. Neither of their lines of study at Ball State would be neglected. The two decided their research would accumulate into a poster that would be a snapshot in time of the Moore-Youse-Maxon House. However, the one house passed through three generations of women is far from isolated from the rest of Muncie’s evolution, and Cora and Michael know that much of the story will point to the food and consumerism trends in the rest of Muncie’s town lot farms as well.

So far, Cora and Michael have learned more from the experience than from the research topic at hand. Cora comments that the skill she has practiced and hopes to continue to practice after Ball State is knowing where to find the information she needs and “synthesize it into the narrative.” Michael says that while he was already familiar with investigating diaries for anthropological purposes, he is “pretty new to transcribing dialects” like the ones he has encountered in the collections, and it is a skill he hopes to continue building upon. Both have also gained an appreciation for how much work it takes for historical preservation sites like the Moore-Youse-Maxon House, managed by the Delaware County Historical Society, to remain maintained for the public to see firsthand. Cora emphasizes how important it is for people like the students of the Anthropology and Historic Preservation programs not to overlook local historic buildings, sites, and structures. Displayed interest and published research on preserved sites often can ensure such places, especially those open to the public, remain cherished anchors while the surrounding city’s tides change constantly. As for this Town Lot Farm project, Dr. Groover and Murray would like to keep undergraduates and graduates alike contributing to the vast amount of exploration the topic offers!