A Practical Guide for Prioritizing Archaeological Collections [Deeper Digs]
From large public museums to university anthropology departments, archaeological repositories exist for two main purposes: to preserve and care for collections and to facilitate collections access for a variety of purposes (e.g., public education, exhibition, research, compliance, traditional uses by descendant communities). But how can repository personnel prioritize which collections have the highest potential for
research, education, and exhibition or the most urgent needs like NAGPRA compliance requirements?
Assessing ‘significance’—or put another way, prioritizing collections— in consultation with stakeholders is a powerful tool that can facilitate the use of collections while ensuring that their preservation and compliance needs are accounted for. This two-hour seminar provides a how-to guide for assessing collections. The resulting data informs how repositories can best direct their often limited financial and human resources to collections with the most needs and highest priorities.
This seminar is for collections caretakers and their supervisors who work across sectors: at a tribal cultural center, a government repository, a CRM firm with a related curation facility or a university department, to name a few. Participants will receive a resource guide with practical information for implementing the assessment process.