Hidden In The Hollinger: What We Can Learn From Archeological Legacy Collections In The National Park Service

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Hidden In The Hollinger: What We Can Learn From Archeological Legacy Collections In The National Park Service," at the 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

With over 45 million objects, the National Park Service (NPS) preserves and protects items that signify seminal moments in our nation’s history. One of the biggest and ongoing contributors to these holdings is the presence of archeology in parks. Beginning in the late 19th century, federal initiatives like the Works Progress Administration supported large-scale excavations across the United States, resulting in exponential growth of NPS collections. Nearly a century later, the NPS is still committed to caring for these resources. Subject to shifts in administrative priorities and changes in archeological practices, legacy collections urge us to reflect on previous curatorial approaches and entertain the research potential they hold for the next generation of archeologists and curators. Using park-specific case studies, this symposium takes a closer look at NPS legacy collections, highlighting the challenges they pose, the lessons they teach us, and how to best care for collections in the future.