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Resolving the Crisis in Archaeological Collections Curation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

William H. Marquardt
Affiliation:
Institute of Archeology and Anthropology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208
Anta Montet-White
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045
Sandra C. Scholtz
Affiliation:
Arkansas Archeological Survey, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701

Abstract

Professional archaeologists in America seem to have reached a consensus that systematic archaeological collections are vital to current and future comparative research. Current repositories are inadequately designed and insufficiently funded. Minimally, a repository must be housed in a safe, sturdy, secure building equipped to handle curation and conservation as well as special storage functions. It must include areas for collections study and have an effective information storage/retrieval system. It must have a qualified professional staff. While initial processing of materials may be accounted for in research budgets, long-term (in perpetuity) curatorial maintenance charges may be best defrayed by interest income from funds invested by the repository.

Type
Forum
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1982

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