Conservation and Curation (Other Keyword)
176-200 (203 Records)
The stone sculpture corpus originally found in La Venta is one of the most important collections of Olmec art in Mexico. It is currently exhibited in five different museums in Tabasco and Mexico City. The state of conservation of the almost 50 sculptures (whole and fragments) at the Parque Museo La Venta in Villahermosa are of particular interest because they have been exhibited in an open air museum for the last six decades. A summary of a recent and detailed study of the state of conservation...
The State of the State of California Curation (2019)
This is an abstract from the "How to Conduct Museum Research and Recent Research Findings in Museum Collections: Posters in Honor of Terry Childs" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Dr. Wendy Teeter, Stevy Hernandez, and Xochitl Aguinaga from the Fowler Museum at UCLA were part of an implementation committee initiating the California Curatorial Survey which was distributed to professionals from a variety of institutions. The 2018 Society of California...
Stored and Forgotten: Academic Research Projects using Archaeological Collections (2018)
Around the world, there are a large number of archaeological collections in the repositories of museums, universities, foundations, government agencies and other organizations. The curation crisis has generated a great deal of debate as to how we can help to ameliorate the various problems faced in collections management. This paper will present a proposal of how collections can be used to develop academic projects, both in local repositories and those outside the country, by outlining case...
Surveying New York City Collections at the American Museum of Natural History (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The North American Archaeology Collection at the American Museum of Natural History contains more than 4,000 cataloged objects from New York City. These accessions were acquired or donated to the museum between 1869 and 2017. In this poster, I examine these legacy collections by exploring the materials and artifact types collected from the area. In addition, I...
Sustainable Curation for Federal Land Managers (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Recent changes in federal policy on curation of archaeological and archival records are prompting federal land managers to reexamine best practices for preserving and sharing valuable national heritage. Some of the policy changes include new guidelines for deaccessioning federal archaeological collections and transitioning to digital information...
Technical, Political and Social Issues in Archaeological Collections Data Management (2018)
Managing collections means ensuring the data about them are useful, available, and accurate. In addition to the technical aspects of data management, there are layers of political and social structure that direct the construction and use of collections data. The Minnesota Historical Society employs a set of data standards that allows us to gather electronic cataloging data from a wide community of archaeology researchers depositing collections at MNHS. Though met with initial resistance, these...
“They left about the time I could begin to depend upon them”: Helen Sloan Daniels and the National Youth Administration Durango Public Library Museum Project (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Female Firsts: Celebrating Archaeology’s Pioneering Women on the 101st Anniversary of the 19th Amendment " session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. One of the lesser known programs that funded archaeological excavations during the Great Depression was the National Youth Administration (NYA). NYA archaeology has been overshadowed by projects funded by its more prominent “cousin,” the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and its...
This Is the Way: Moving Toward Best Practices in Collection and Data Submission to Archaeological Repositories (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeological repositories curate artifacts and associated documentation for state, tribal and federal agencies. In carrying out their legally mandated duties, each repository faces unique challenges, but common to all is the well-documented, multifaceted national curation crisis. The Arizona State Museum (ASM) is no exception, with personnel working to...
To Be of Use: Re-examining Army Corps of Engineer's Collections (2018)
The Veterans Curation Program has been rehabilitating U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) collections for long-term preservation since 2009. With the dual goal of training and assisting veterans with their professional goals while also archiving and curating USACE collections, this program ultimately produces high quality digital records and photographs of cultural materials from across the U.S. This paper delves into the value of USACE’s digital collections for continued research, education,...
“Too Hood for This”: Navigating the Profession of Archaeology and Finding My Place (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Hood Archaeologies: Impacts of the School-to-Prison Pipeline on Archaeological Practice and Pedagogy" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. I found my roots in archaeology in undergraduate school during an archaeological excavation at the Stewart Indian School in Carson City, NV. It was an empowering experience. It was the first time I witnessed a BIPOC community having autonomy over their historical narratives. It also...
Trabajos de Conservación Arquitectónica en el Sitio Arqueológico de San Pedro Nexicho, Colaboración INAH-FAHHO-Comunidad (2018)
La conservación del patrimonio arqueológico en la región de la Sierra Norte del estado de Oaxaca, representa un gran reto debido entre otros aspectos a su entorno geográfico, a cuestiones del ámbito social que se relacionan con el arraigo a sus costumbres y tradiciones; y más aún, a la falta total de antecedentes sobre trabajos previos de conservación sobre el patrimonio cultural local. En esta ponencia se presentarán los trabajos de intervención para la conservación y restauración de los...
Transforming Policy and Museum Practices: Decolonizing Frameworks and UNDRIP in Canada (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Ideas, Ethical Ideals, and Museum Practice in North American Archaeological Collections" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Canadian Museum of History, a national collecting institution dating back to the mid-1980s, has undergone many transformations throughout its history, including to its name, mandate, and location. This presentation will outline how community collaboration and collections access has transformed in...
Under One Roof: The Physical and Digital Reorganization of the Historic St. Mary's City Archaeological Collections (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Storeroom Taphonomies: Site Formation in the Archaeological Archive" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The archaeological collections at Historic St. Mary’s City span some 50 years of continuous research resulting in approximately 6.5 million artifacts, thousands of pages of field records, paper catalogues, and related documentation. In 2016 the entire collection was moved from multiple storage locations into one single...
Unravelling Mummy Objectification: An Evaluation and Case Study of the History and Legacy of Mummymania (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, wealthy Europeans flocked to Egypt to see the ‘exotic’ and ancient land first-hand. On their journey, many tourists accumulated souvenirs, but none were so admired and desired as Egyptian mummies. The exploitative nature of European interest in Egyptian mummies meant little historical and personal...
Updates from the Southeastern NAGPRA Community of Practice (SNACP): Successes and Challenges (2024)
This is an abstract from the "In Search of Solutions: Exploring Pathways to Repatriation for NAGPRA Practitioners (Part IV): NAGPRA in Policy, Protocol, and Practice" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Over 33 years have passed since the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 (NAGPRA) was ratified. As practitioners, we recognize the progress that has been made and acknowledge the vast amount of repatriation work that still...
Upstairs, Downstairs: Excavations of a Throne Room and Kitchen in the Kuche Palace, Kiuic, Yucatán (2024)
This is an abstract from the "The Bolonchen Regional Archaeological Project: 25 Years of Research in the Puuc" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Beginning around AD 800 the Puuc region experienced a major construction boom of monumental architecture, including large palace complexes. At Kiuic, in the Bolonchen region of the Puuc, the early Yaxché Palace (AD 550–800) was replaced by a much larger complex of structures, still under construction at the...
The Use of Legacy Collections as Education Opportunities for Undergraduate Student Internships (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Center for Archaeological Research (CAR) at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) offers semester long internships to undergraduate students from UTSA’s Anthropology Department. The internship program offers students an opportunity to gain hands-on experience in laboratory methods, independent research, curation standards, and collection...
Veteran Archivists: The Harry S. Truman Reservoir Project (2018)
The Saint Louis laboratory of the Veterans Curation Program processes several archival investigations throughout each five month term, but few have been to the scale of the Harry S. Truman Reservoir Project. This project produced 23 boxes worth of documentation spanning over 268 linear inches. The Harry S. Truman Reservoir is the largest man-made lake in Missouri and covers over 100,000 acres of government owned and flood easement lands. To prepare for the construction of the dam, a number of...
Veterans Curation Program in the Time of Corona (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Since 2009, the Veterans Curation Program (VCP) has been at the forefront of the effort to address the build-up of at-risk archaeological and archival collections in storage facilities around the United States. The VCP has the added mission of working with veterans to provide vital job skills and assist in the transition from military to civilian life. In...
The Veterans Curation Program: Unintended Public Archaeology (2018)
The Veterans Curation Program was created with the mission to rehabilitate U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) archaeological collections while providing temporary employment and vocational training to veterans. In the nine years that the VCP has been in operation, it has evolved into a dynamic public archaeology effort that engages non-archaeologists in the field of archaeology on a daily basis. This paper explores the varied approaches to public archaeology within the Program, as well as the...
Viscacha or Rabbit, Peru or Mexico: Fiber Identification and Cultural Clarification in the Investigation of a 16th C. Colonial Latin American Textile (2019)
This is an abstract from the "From Materials to Materiality: Analysis and Interpretation of Archaeological and Historical Artifacts Using Non-destructive and Micro/Nano-sampling Scientific Methods" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Long distance trade of precious materials such as spondylus shell or turquoise took place in the Precolumbian world. However, at the same time, the associations between particularly local materials and their long-term...
The Volunteer Spirit: "Archaeology Volunteer Day" at the Archaeological Research Laboratory at UT-Knoxville (2018)
In January 2015, we instituted a monthly "Volunteer Day" at the Archaeological Research Laboratory at the University of Tennessee. Originally conceived as a way to increase outreach to the general public as well as prepare a large number of artifacts for curation, this activity has developed into a "citizen science" opportunity, where participants help collect data. Here we reflect on the positives and negatives of the program as we have implemented it over the past two years, with feedback from...
Warehousing the Past: Are We Doing the Right Thing? (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Navigating Ethical and Legal Quandaries in Modern Archaeological Curation" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The cultural resource management (CRM) industry, emerging from the passage of landmark national and subsequent state-level legislation, is arguably one of the largest generators of archaeological collections in North America. Project-specific deadlines, budgetary constraints, variations in state agency guidelines,...
Where Does the Responsibility Lie? The Long-Forgotten Federal Collections and the Repositories that House Them (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Ideas, Ethical Ideals, and Museum Practice in North American Archaeological Collections" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The federal government is responsible for a huge amount of archaeological collections in the United States, and yet not all of these collections are housed in federally compliant repositories, while many collections are not even known to exist by the agency. But whose problem is this—the...
Why So Blue? The Great Island Tavern and Its Legacy (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Storeroom Taphonomies: Site Formation in the Archaeological Archive" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeological collections and their perpetual care allow archaeologists an opportunity to right wrongs and revisit interpretations of site formation and identity. Looking at past methodologies through our twenty-first-century professional standards allows for a more objective review of both field and post-field...