Boxed but not Forgotten Redux or: The Importance and Usefulness of Exploring Old or Forgotten Collections

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Boxed but not Forgotten Redux or: The Importance and Usefulness of Exploring Old or Forgotten Collections," at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

While collections-based research is increasingly promoted as a sustainable and ethical method for pursuing research, it does not yet outpace, nor even equal, the number of investigations that include fieldwork as their primary methodology. This trend continues despite the thousands of existing collections in repositories across the nation that are brimming with potential for new investigation, or for connecting the dots between other projects, sites, and cultures. These collections sit forgotten or ignored on shelves and in storage, their secrets unexplored and their data excluded from our larger understanding of historical archaeology. In recognition of this continuing problem, the SHA Collections and Curation Committee sponsors this session devoted to exploring the importance of existing collections to the future of archaeological research; papers included highlight collections in need of research, new projects on old collections, and other exciting avenues for collections-based research in the field of historical archaeology.