If We Build It, Will They Come? A Community of Practice for Archaeological Repositories

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Ideas, Ethical Ideals, and Museum Practice in North American Archaeological Collections" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In 2021, caretakers and users of archaeological collections participated in a Wenner-Gren funded workshop that considered the social lives of archaeological repositories. The goal was to understand the repository as a site of social relations among and between stakeholders. Together, collections managers, curators, and archaeologists representing tribal, government, CRM, and academic sectors considered the fundamental roles of the repository for the stakeholders they serve. Workshop participants identified the elements that unite repositories beyond curating collections. One of the outcomes was to explore whether repositories and their stakeholders would benefit from a more collaborative system of information sharing through the establishment of a Community of Practice (CoP) or a Repository Collective. This paper considers the creation of a CoP for archaeological repositories, its benefits, and potential barriers to its formation. A CoP could be a platform for interaction, a portal for best practices with an emphasis on sustainability, and a means to developing new solutions to common problems.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Ideas, Ethical Ideals, and Museum Practice in North American Archaeological Collections   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39032.0