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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 17, 1998)
e Battalion Aggielife Page 3 • Tuesday, November 17, 1998 "'•ligate I® two ye; iffeials. He. iealingwitli ^onimuni; l^dersoflS; I Graduates; with the pi se t>V encot of the threel 'en divided; »nand see; "meeting is ve parting hrd said. 1 something; 'unaware; m] most hei razos Valley Museum of Natural History offers viewers glance at colonial life HlirS ipan, Chi- lacularsii he early shooting; 'feet reside periencee n signals, revious L l one will ars per ho; is an issue, ? are trying recognizee otected i •client priit i online coi ■RapeCri; iour hotlin; ice to ho;f ts and coin ace-to-facei •oupsfoni tinseling sff ns. ition abc. pe Crisist; online txeyber.® BY GRAY WHITTEN The Battalion he Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History is giv ing visitors a view of the lijyes of 17th-century colonists through the exhibition of a re cently. recovered French wrecked ship, La Belle. I The exhibit features items both ornate and mundane, but all the pieces work together to paint vivid pictures of the people’s lives. ■ The ship, part of a convoy lead by French explorer Rene Robert »velier and manned by Sieur de eLi Salle, sank in Matagorda Bay, Texas, after the expedition over shot the intended target at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Bre French had planned to estab lish a colony to maintain control of the recently acquired Louisiana legion and serve as a warm-water port for the area fur trade. I After navigational problems l|ad the group to Texas, La Salle attempted to return to the Missis sippi with some of his crew, but was murdered in a revolt. I Had the convoy landed safely in the right spot, the colony at Fort St. Louis might have survived, tip ping the balance of power in the Texas area from Mexican to ■rench control, museum curator Tom Lynch said. I “The exhibit is particularly per tinent around here, because La Salle was probably murdered around Navasota,” Lynch said. I Because the colonization mis sion was unsuccessful, the most- w-intact ship was found with many of its original fittings and ontents intact. The artifacts recovered were [described by project director Jim Bruseth in Texas Highways magazine as “a virtual colony kit.” The layer of muddy sand that surrounded the craft pre vented the invasion of microor ganisms, which could have damaged the ship. The children of some settlers were adopted by area Indians after their parents died in the crash. Lynch said. While some anthro pologists will tell of the “kid napped” French children, the In dians were simply acting as they thought they should and saving the lives of the orphaned children. “It was sort of a fairy tale sto ry,” Lynch said. “One of those sto ries where everything went wrong that could. One ship was captured in the West Indies, and one ran aground. La Salle lost his own ship that Louis XIV gave him.” The exhibit features several cannons, including one very spe cial gun. The solid brass cannon. marked with the name of the Count of Vermandois, Admiral of France from 1669 to 1683, is con sidered the prize of the find, and would have been considered the absolute cutting edge of weapon ry at the time of the wreck. “The cost of making it would be equivalent to 400 men working full-time for a year,” Lynch said, “probably about the same as a fighter jet today.” see La Belle on Page 4. ROBERT HYNECEK/Thk Battalion New A8cM group focuses on technical aspects of theater STEPHANIE CORLEY/The Battalion The La Belle exhibit features three canons, ceramic vessels, dishes, clothing, weapons and a cast model of an unidentified man who was found on the ship. The exhibit will remain open through Jan. 4,1999. BY KYLE WHITACRE The Battalion T he exposure most Texas A&M students have to local theater is the one or two plays put on by the University’s theater program each year. Now theater arts students are offering Aggies a new chance to be involved in theater. Six weeks ago, eight students from the theater arts program re instated the A&M charter of the United States Institute for Theater Technology. This student chapter was origi nally formed in the ’70s but closed shortly after. Now it has been re instated as interest in theater and the arts has returned to A&M. USITT is the association of de sign, production and technology professionals in the performing arts and entertainment industry. Its mission is to actively promote the advancement of the knowledge and skills of its members, Leah Graves, president of A&M’s chapter of USITT and a sophomore theater arts major, said. USITT’s A&M Chapter performs this role through education, service and training. “We all are disappointed regu larly of how much theater is ne glected at A&M,” she said. “We wanted to create an opportunity for all the people who are interested to get what they want to know. ” Active participants in theater arts are now heading the organization. The current agenda for the club, besides recruiting new members, is to complete a series of projects for the next year, in cluding making T-shirts for each production of the theater pro gram, hosting opening-night galas for every show, conducting a Theater Arts Career Seminar and publishing a weekly information letter via e-mail showcasing local acts, productions and a help- wanted section. Graves said. As of now, only a few people are handling all of these projects. “We basically picked officers by the ones most willing to make things happen,” Graves said. “It really came down to who had the most time.” see Usin on Page 4. 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