Learning Through Compliance: Engaging Students and Volunteers Through NAGPRA Work at the Alabama Department of Archives and History

Summary

This is a poster submission presented at the 2021 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In 2019 the Alabama Department of Archives and History (ADAH) in Montgomery, Alabama enlisted a group of students and volunteers to undertake a formidable amount of collections management work necessary to achieving NAGPRA compliance, while also challenging them to engage with NAGPRA legislation and ethics. This program was able to accommodate a range of education levels, institutions, and individuals without strict timelines or structured requirements making it adaptable to individual goals and schedules. The program included project specific orientation and an introduction to NAGPRA. Participants were then set to work on collections management tasks ranging from rehousing and researching artifact types to updating entries into the ADAH catalog database. The results of this project have been remarkable—over 300,000 artifacts and records have been updated and participants were able to gain new skill sets and learned the importance of NAGPRA work firsthand.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• 2021 SHA Poster Submissions   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2021

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology