The Benefits of Cooperative Curation: Histories of Two Successful Archeological Curation Agreements
Susan R. Martin, Archeology Laboratory, Program in Industrial History and Archeology, Michigan Technological University
Discussed the history of two curation agreements: one with the Archeological Laboratory of Michigan Technological University, the other with the Ottawa National Forest and Hiawatha National Forest. She discussed the differences in outlook, mission, and structure between the agreements. Both agreements were successful. The agreements support undergraduate and graduate education, artifact analysis, and conservation methods. Both agreements had benefits and shortcomings, and differing amounts of professional interaction and public service.
Institutional Long-Range Plans and Their Appropriateness for the Management of Federally Associated Collections
Nicola Ladkin, Registrar, Museum of Texas Tech University and Eileen Johnson, Curator of Anthropology, Museum of Texas Tech University
- Plan was created for the direction of the museum in the future. Involved the Lake Meredith collection that was excavated in 1962-1963. In 1994 there was a cooperative agreement with the National Park Service to curate the collection
- Phase I
- Put catalog in a database
- 19,300 objects inventoried
- 1500 hours worth of work
- Packaged material in acid-free boxes
- Phase II
- Finished cataloging
- Put objects in museum-quality cabinets
- This collection was already incorporated with the division's long-range plan, it became the catalyst for action on activities such as the collections-wide inventory and continued upgrading of cabinets
Partnership Opportunities for Agencies, Museums, Users and the Public: NARA-San Bruno's Retained Records Program
Daniel Nealand, Assistant Director, National Archives, Pacific Sierra Region, San Bruno, CA
- National Archives and Records (NARA) Pacific Sierra Region
- 2.5 million records
- 1 million photographs
- 1500 cubic feet of newly accessed records
- Strength is not public outreach, with a staff of only nine there just is not enough time. Need a partnership with museums, museums should do the interpretation while NARA should just preserve records
- Main amount of researchers come in for genealogy. Small agency whose programs are not that well known because NARA Pacific Sierra Region does not deal with current records
- Have programs to loan records/materials to museums for display
- Hold back-up records for agencies, records will go into National Archives collection
- Partnerships with federal agencies involves attaining and upgrading records from federal agency offices, an example being Mare Naval Shipyard, the Department of Energy, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In these instances, long term care, availability, and/or research utility of archival records was endangered by poor records management.
Developing Treatment Plans for Remains Pursuant to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
John A. Walewski, Headquarters, U.S. Air Force, Center for Management of Military Lands, School of Natural Resources, Colorado State University; under contract to provide assistance to the Air Force Conservation Program based at Air Force headquarters at the Pentagon
- Williams Air Force Base, Arizona was selected for base closure pursuant to the Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990. The Air Force, and the associated tribes (Gila River Indian Community, AK-Chin Indian Community, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, Tohono O'odham Nation, and the Hopi Tribe have developed procedures for the discovery, treatment, and disposition of all Remains claimed by the tribes on Williams Air Force Base property.
- Driven by the need of consultation to address the requirements of:
- American Indian Religious Freedom Act
- Archeology Protection Act
- Lessons learned from the programmatic agreement process
- Air Force learning that cultural resources need to be looked at during base closures
- Need to begin consultation closure procedures early
- Hopefully bases that are operative will look at cultural resources. Too often only the bases that are closing examine their cultural resources
- Reorganization creates a problem which results in research pertaining to cultural resources
- Research is a plus