Curation test 1

Late 19th century archaeology:

"museum era" National Museum of Natural History American Museum of Natural History

New Deal Projects

- Large scale with a concentration on the southeast - very little preservation or care the the remains

the '30s into the '70s

- Public works and salvage archaeology (designed to quickly excavate and preserve archaeological record prior to its destruction)

WWI

- we see a resurgence in salvage archaeology

Museum Properties Management Act

-1955 -secretary of the interior, through the NPS, can preserve objects found in individual national parks and provide public access -NPS has authority to acquire collections through donations and purchase and to loan and exchange -deaccession by transfer, conveyance and destruction

National Historic Preservation Act

-1966 -led to the development of what is now known as CRM archaeology -brings a lot of collections into repositories -Expanded the National Register of historic places -est. the SHPO (state historic preservation offices) - section 106 & 110

National Environmental Policy Act

-1969 -autority for managing the impacts of all federal actions on the human environment -section 101 -considers the relationships between past cultures and their living descendants.

Archaeological and Historic Preservation Act

-1974 -fight to preserve archaeological resources during development -up to 1% of the cost of a federal project could be used for "recovery, protection, and preservation of any data deemed endangered."

Archaeological Resources Protection Act

-1979 -helped define and prioritize curation again -strengthened permitting procedures -acknowledges federal ownership of objects excavated from federal lands

36 CFR 79

-1990 -regulations for the curation of federally owned and associated collections

Reservoir Salvage Act of 1960

-Helped continue funding for the salvage of archaeological sites -required proper curation but lacked funding for long term care

Roosevelt's New Deal created:

-Works Progress Administration - Civil Works Administration - Tennessee Valley Authority

Historic Sites Act of 1935

-federal policy to preserve historic and prehistoric areas of national significance

Curation Crisis

-inadequate space -insufficient funding -lack of professionally trained personnel

Antiquities Act of 1906

-objects collected under the act were for "permanent preservation in public museums" -lacked standards or guidelines on how to perform these functions and who was responsible -protect sites from looting

the four D's

Disintegrate Disappear Disorganized Different parts are separated

antiquarian collections

made solely for the intrinsic value of the artifacts

archaeological collections

made to collect and preserve info that is useful for research and interpretative purposes

archaeological collections include:

objects/artifacts non cultural materials associated records digital data research results or interpretation

Early 20th century

public education and exhibition archaeology became better recognized as a profession

1950s-1970s

salvage archaeology/ supervised by university departments -field work was seen as more important than curation and long term management.

provenience

specific geographic or spatial location where an object was found