Warehousing the Past: Are We Doing the Right Thing?

Summary

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, and the realities of property ownership present CRM companies with an ethical dilemma that has resulted in collections remaining in limbo, or worse, orphaned in warehouses across the country. Often a collection’s owner is reluctant or unable to shoulder the costs of long-term curation, elevating the risk of total collection abandonment or loss. While the fate of federally owned collections is never in question, the bulk of many firms’ collections originate from private, state, or municipal lands. The dearth of private, local, or state-run repositories able to accept new collections compels CRM firms and local historical societies to function as de facto repositories with little to no mandate or financial support to do so. Richard Grubb and Associates Inc. (RGA), in operation since 1988, is keenly aware of the chronic and immediate nature of these issues. This paper will share RGA’s strategy, successes, and challenges in navigating these murky waters.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Navigating Ethical and Legal Quandaries in Modern Archaeological Curation   •
• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32755