Matthew Reeves, Director of Archaeology and Landscape Restoration at Montpelier

Monday, October 10, 2022
5 PM | Campbell 153

aerial view of MontpelierMatthew Reeves has been the Director of Archaeology and Landscape Restoration at Montpelier since 2000. Dr. Reeves’s research interests center on the archaeology of plantation life, African Americans (both enslaved and free), and the Civil War. His background includes more than two decades of directing research projects on plantations and freedman period sites in Jamaica, Maryland, and Virginia. A distinguished scholar, he has published numerous articles and monographs on his research on African American and Civil War sites and presented conference papers on these subjects.

At Montpelier, he directs the Montpelier Archaeology Department which has hosted field schools since 1987, giving students training in field and laboratory techniques. His innovative public archaeology program set national precedent for inviting the public to work side by side with professional archaeologists excavating places where enslaved people lived and worked. He has collaborated with members of Montpelier’s descendent community since his arrival at Montpelier and trained a generation of archaeologists passionate about investigating the institution of slavery. Dr. Reeves received his Ph.D. from Syracuse University in 1997 and prior to his work at Montpelier held positions with the University of Maryland and the National Park Service.


This event is co-sponsored by the University of Virginia Scholars' Lab, Institute for Advanced Technologies in the Humanities, and the Interdisciplinary Archaeology Program at UVA, with generous support from the Kelly-Tukey Endowment, dedicated to advancing scholarship in Historic Preservation.