Reviving Collections “At Rest”: Examining Recent Efforts to Promote Collections Research at CFAR

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The struggle to manage collections generated through the process of archeological activity is ongoing despite decades of attempts to resolve the “curation crisis.” Artifacts collected in the field and their associated records are most often shelved in curatorial facilities and storage closets prone to disassociation and decay. In the best circumstances, these collections remain intact; however, few of even the best cared for collections are reexamined, and the epistemological underpinnings of their analyses are rarely questioned or reframed. To fully realize the role of legacy archeological collections to inform our shared past, stewards of these collections must expand the paradigm of “traditional” collections use and look at innovative ways to use artifacts to teach and to serve a wider and more inclusive audience. In this paper, we examine unique programs undertaken by staff at the Curatorial Facility for Artifact Research (CFAR) and their collaborators. We highlight recent projects that have given a new life to old collections by using these collections as teaching tools, by expanding the contextual record of these collections, and by allowing a broader audience to inform our understanding of the meaning of these objects and the stories they tell.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37699.0