Opportunities for Federally Associated Collections
June 5-7, 1996
Berkeley, CA
Session 6: Federal Policies, Laws, and Regulations II
Moderator, Jason Hall, Director, Government Affairs Program, American Association of Museums

What's the Big Deal? Archaeological Curation: Issues Behind the Legislation.
S. Terry Childs, Archaeologist, Archaeology and Ethnography Program, NPS

What is unique about archeology?

  1. representation of past unique behavior;
  2. non-renewable and irreplaceable;
  3. representation of past social, cultural, religious patterns.

Review of Preservation and Archeology Laws:

  1. Antiquities Act of 1906, 90th anniversary
  2. Historic Sites Acts of 1935
  3. NHPA of 1966, as amended
  4. Reservoir Salvage Act, amended 1974 as Moss-Bennett Act
  5. Archeological Protection Act 1979
  6. 36 CFR Part 79

Key concerns:

  1. value of archeology to heritage of Americans
  2. preservation of resources to reap value

Different level of attention given with differing legislation
Issues:

  1. ownership, who is responsible for collections, given several different scenarios
  2. new players
    - who has ownership
    - tribes, museums, or federal organizations, etc.
    - new partnerships being established with private land owners;
  3. funding
    -most federal funding for archeology is as they come out of the ground;
    -what about what already exists? most legislation does not address this;
    -federal and non-federal repositories must meet archeological standards and face new ones;
    -proposed standards such as deaccessioning was put on hold due to low response; repatriation associated with NAGPRA has given some structure to problems of inventory and ownership. Federal funding agencies could strengthen curatorial requirements. Deaccession regulations needed: NPS will recommend within a year.
  4. educating archaeologists about collection management long term management, and develop sampling techniques; commitment to education in universities is needed
  5. new technology - electronic media, for accounting and accessing archeological collections, sustained commitment

What's Happening? Threats and Intimidation: Museum Collections Management During Federal Restructuring
Betty Empson, Property Management Specialist, Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior

DOI Office of Acquisition and Property Management issued departmentwide policies and procedures after audit in 1990

  1. turned to NPS to help
  2. task force from different bureaus of DOI accomplishments were group effort:
    -data based on survey information, NOT inventory
    -published 411 DM
    -standards from DOI; department policy, NOT regulations
    -bureau specific implementation plans which included long-range planning to identify what they needed in resources
    - long-range plans allow 2-25 years to correct deficiencies
    -established the Interagency Federal Collections Working Group

Recent events have not allowed for the implementation of bureau plans:

  1. funding decreased
  2. Bureau of Mines (USBM) eliminated
  3. Dept. of Interior Museum in scope of collections statement would take over museum collection if an organization is eliminated; this is not practical, USBM collections needed to stay locally. In PA and OR - national register nomination oral histories to transfer to Interior Museum
  4. Indian Arts and Crafts Board (IACB) was threatened - A task force to study IACB collection to put together process, reviewing mission.
  5. Ranch A (USFWS) threatened
    -probably will be gone shortly by act of Congress
    -PAM looking at orderly process of ensuring collection is retained if Federally significant
  6. Interior Museum
    -any service within the Interior Service Center must be self-sustaining;
    -the Interior Museum cannot bill back to bureau for services;
    -task force to study the Interior Museum - its future and where it will be administratively located;

We are definitely struggling to sustain ourselves - we cannot be proactive in correcting deficiencies, rather we are merely defending our existence.

Non-Consumptive Use of Artifacts for Law Enforcement Purposes
Todd Swain, NPS Criminal Investigator

use of artifacts for undercover criminal activity

artifacts must be over 100 years old, with federal provenance, and over $500 in value.

Examples:

cases take a long time to be adjudicated; artifacts cannot be loaned during period until adjudication is final because used as evidence in trial (chain of custody).

A Precis of Federal Collections Management Policies
William G. Tompkins, National Collections Coordinator, National Collections Program, Smithsonian Institution

Museums must develop and implement standards in management and care of collections in accordance with professional practice, professional code of ethics, and laws/regulations.

Collections management policies (CMP) describe the principles which govern collection activities, practices, and operations. A CMP establishes guidelines for the acquisition, care, use and disposal of collections, and effective implementation of such policies.

Interagency Federal Collections Working Group established the Existing Authorities Task Force to identify and collect CMP's from agencies represented on the Working Group, including:

The Task Force was charged to collect and compare agency policies, prepare a written summary of each, and maintain a list of agency contacts. Few agencies have comprehensive collection programs and policies, some have abbreviated CMP's, but the majority do not currently have CMP's.

List of commonalities in agency CMP's include:

CMP's should be approved by the agencies' governing body; required reading for all curatorial, collections and administrative staff; and periodically reviewed and revised if warranted. CMP's should be enforced by a collections management procedures manual.

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