Crisis and Opportunity: Legacy Collections and Archaeological Research in the 21st Century

Museum curators, archaeologists, and researchers are forging ahead with creative and innovative ways of dealing with the day-to-day realities of the curation crisis in the 21st century. This crisis is a national phenomenon. However, recent collaborations between museum staff, academic and professional archaeologists, students, and local archaeological organizations, presents an opportunity to demonstrate the research and curation value of connecting students and researchers with existing scholarly assets – such as legacy collections - in lieu of creating new collections. This session highlights current research with existing archaeological collections from the American Southwest, and provides a forum to continue the dialogue on addressing the curation crisis.