Christian Chaffee '27, left, and Aiden LaLone '27 with the Vitale Collection at the Livingston County Historical Society Museum. (SUNY Geneseo/Matt Burkhartt)
An amateur archeologist devoted decades of his life to discovering artifacts in the Genesee Valley. Since his death, SUNY Geneseo students have preserved the relics in a 652-bag collection that is now part of official Livingston County history.
"It’s an honor to preserve the life’s work of a fellow archeologist and our local history," says Christian Chaffee '27. Chaffee is majoring in anthropology with a minor in geography and intends to pursue a career in archeology.
The family of James Vitale donated more than 1,000 items to the College upon his death in 2017. It is believed he studied anthropology at Geneseo in the 1970s. While he chose another direction for his career, Vitale made local archeology his lifelong hobby.
Seven students have worked on the project since 2022, cleaning, dating, organizing, and cataloging items such as pestles, projectile points, flakes from the production of stone tools, and other artifacts. The objects are now part of the Vitale Collection at the Livingston County Historical Society Museum in Geneseo.
The students' efforts contribute to our knowledge of local and Native American history in the Genesee Valley before European settlement, says Paul Pacheco, professor and chair of the Department of Anthropology. Some of the items are 5,000 years old—about as old as Stonehenge. The Vitale Collection also includes items used through the colonial period and into the 20th century. Dealing with the collection helped students develop their identification, handling, and other lab skills.
Chaffee and Aiden LaLone '27 (anthropology) are now completing the final step in creating the collection, adding each bagged, labeled, and identified artifact to the museum’s catalog of holdings.
It was not always easy, says Chaffee, who has led the project since his first year at Geneseo. Vitale’s collection notes were not complete, some archeological sites were missing, and some items were not labeled.
"In some ways, this collection was mysterious, but we were able to dig through it and rediscover it, too," says Chaffee, who is also the student representative on the Livingston County Historical Society Museum board. "For example, one site did not have a specific location. We confirmed it using maps and named it the North River Road site. That was really special. Archeology needs to be hands-on to learn it. I’m so happy that early on I was able to have this great experience."
Read more about the students’ efforts and the collection in this 2025 GREAT Day poster presentation.