Preserving the College's Anthropology Collections

FAIN: PZ-50022-06

Beloit College (Beloit, WI 53511-5595)
William Green (Project Director: October 2005 to April 2009)

The purchase of storage furniture and rehousing of 7,672 ethnographic objects and 69,000 archaeological artifacts at the Logan Museum of Anthropology. The collections include South American, Mesoamerican, and Native American ceramics, American Indian basketry, Midwestern archaeological collections, and Paleolithic art and artifacts from France and North Africa.

The Logan Museum of Anthropology seeks $355,126 in funding to relocate, rehouse, increase accessibility to, and upgrade the care and preservation of 7,672 ethnographic objects and approximately 69,000 archaeological objects. This project will: (1) replace inappropriate and substandard storage equipment; (2) mitigate inappropriate environmental conditions; (3) alleviate overcrowding and lack of accessibility, and (4) create 1,000 cubic feet of new storage capacity by installing new cabinets, shelves, and mobile compact storage units.

Associated Products

The Logan Museum of Anthropology’s Collections Accessibility Project: A Multi-phase Approach to Improving Preservation and Access (Article)
Title: The Logan Museum of Anthropology’s Collections Accessibility Project: A Multi-phase Approach to Improving Preservation and Access
Author: Nicolette Meister
Author: William Green
Abstract: This article describes the planning and implementation of improvements to the archaeology collections of the Logan Museum of Anthropology. With NEH support and local cost-sharing, museum staff and students rehoused and improved preservation of and access to over 178,000 objects from hundreds of archaeological sites located throughout North America.
Year: 2009
Primary URL: http://www.saa.org/Portals/0/SAA/Publications/thesaaarchrec/Mar09.pdf
Primary URL Description: The SAA Archaeological Record, Volume 9, No. 2, pp. 31-35.
Format: Magazine
Periodical Title: The SAA Archaeological Record
Publisher: Society for American Archaeology

Planning Is Everything: Fostering Success for On-site Collection Moves (Article)
Title: Planning Is Everything: Fostering Success for On-site Collection Moves
Author: William Green
Author: Nicolette Meister
Abstract: Improving preservation of and access to collections is recognized as a national priority in the U.S. Such improvements often require moving and rehousing collections. Careful planning for move projects is essential even when collections are relocated within renovated existing storage areas. We offer a case study of a rehousing project that required moving over 300,000 objects. A long-range preservation plan, informed by collections assessments and the museum’s overall mission and strategic plan, guided all stages of the project. Planning included inventories, a pilot project, and research on other institutions’ move projects. The project plan specified collection packing, moving, temporary storage, and tracking procedures as well as specifications on the new storage systems. The plan allowed modifications during project implementation to handle unanticipated complications. The improvement of physical preservation and access facilitated the next step of the long-range plan: implementation of a data management system to improve intellectual control and access.
Year: 2011
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals 7(2):95-112
Publisher: Altamira Press

Logan Museum of Anthropology Collections Accessibility Project (Web Resource)
Title: Logan Museum of Anthropology Collections Accessibility Project
Author: Nicolette Meister
Abstract: Provides an overview of project planning and implementation.
Year: 2008
Primary URL: http://www.beloit.edu/logan/collections/accessibility/

The Robinson and Squirrel Dam Sites: What’s Not in Robert Salzer’s Dissertation (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: The Robinson and Squirrel Dam Sites: What’s Not in Robert Salzer’s Dissertation
Author: Sara Pfannkuche
Author: William Green
Abstract: The Robinson (47-ON-27) and Squirrel Dam (47-ON-21) sites are two of the largest sites excavated during the Northern Lakes Project. Both sites were excavated in all four years of the project (1965-1968), but Robert Salzer’s 1969 dissertation and his follow-up 1974 publication on the project include data from the first two years only. This means that the published record discusses only a portion of the work done at both sites. Recent examination, inventory, and rehousing of the entire collection (over 67,000 objects and samples) and associated documentation from both sites has made the recovered material as well as numerous features, activity areas, post molds possibly representing structures, and deposits associated with specific cultural periods more easily amenable to study. The rehousing project did not incorporate in-depth analysis, but the new inventory and improved access to the collections can help archaeologists form research questions appropriate to the hitherto underappreciated range and richness of the two sites’ data sets.
Date: 10/16/09
Conference Name: Midwest Archaeological Conference

You Mean There Are More?: Collections from Lesser-Known but Significant Sites from the Northern Lakes Project (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: You Mean There Are More?: Collections from Lesser-Known but Significant Sites from the Northern Lakes Project
Author: William Green
Author: Sara Pfannkuche
Abstract: Robert Salzer’s 1969 dissertation on the Northern Lakes discussed 12 sites in detail, but 76 additional sites were surveyed during the first two years of the Northern Lakes Project (1965-1966). Recently inventoried and rehoused collections from these sites contain 7,787 artifacts, and 43 of the sites produced potentially diagnostic material. These sites helped form Salzer’s cultural chronology of the Northern Lakes region. An example of such a site is Mohawk Point (47-ON-28) where over 2,000 artifacts were collected including Late Paleo-Indian, Middle Woodland, and Late Woodland projectile points and portions of at least 35 ceramic vessels. These sites provide important information on settlement patterns, economic systems, and technology, and the survey data form a baseline for resource management and preservation efforts.
Date: 10/16/09
Conference Name: Midwest Archaeological Conference

Strategies for Curating Neglected Archaeological Collections: Case Studies from the Logan Museum of Anthropology (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Strategies for Curating Neglected Archaeological Collections: Case Studies from the Logan Museum of Anthropology
Author: Sara Pfannkuche
Author: William Green
Author: Nicolette Meister
Abstract: The Logan Museum of Anthropology is engaged in a multi-stage collections improvement project whose goal is to improve preservation of and access to the museum's archaeological and ethnographic collections. Substantial staff and student effort has been allocated to the project, supported largely by grants. At the start of the project, archaeological collections deriving from field schools, CRM work, and other sources were housed in a wide range of conditions and had varying levels of physical and intellectual accessibility. In previous papers and presentations we supplied progress reports on our efforts to curate these generally neglected and poorly known collections. Here, we discuss specific curation strategies we have applied to particularly challenging collections with poor documentation and inappropriate storage containers and to collections deriving from injudicious collecting strategies. We also show how this curatorial work has benefited current research projects.
Date: 10/16/09
Conference Name: Midwest Archaeological Conference

Northern Lakes Project Collections: Ensuring Intellectual and Physical Accessibility (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Northern Lakes Project Collections: Ensuring Intellectual and Physical Accessibility
Author: Nicolette Meister
Abstract: Physical and intellectual accessibly are essential if archaeological collections are to be utilized for research, teaching, and interpretation. The curation crisis brought an acute awareness of the value and irreplaceable nature of these collections and heightened the standards for their preservation and access. The Logan Museum of Anthropology’s Collections Accessibility Project is one model of how previously neglected and underutilized archaeological collections have been given new life through cataloguing, computerization, and proper documentation. Collection assessments and pilot projects laid the foundation for federal and private funding that enabled the Logan Museum to dramatically improve preservation of and access to over 100,000 archaeological artifacts and associated documentation resulting from the Northern Lakes Project.
Date: 10/16/09
Conference Name: Midwest Archaeological Conference

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