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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      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| **Published by the DOI Departmental Consulting Archeologist/NPS Archeology Program, National Park Service, Washington, DC, April           1992.**

**The           New York State Museum's Collections: A Case Study of the Present Sample**

A logical beginning place for developing plans aimed           at better managing collections is to determine the nature of the sample           of the archeological record presently represented in curated collections.           The nature of the present sample generally is unknown, largely because           of problems in collections accessibility. A chronic problem in the management           of archeological collections has been access to information about what           is in a particular institution's collections. This situation is beginning           to change as museums are being required to become more accountable for           their activities, and as the information management capabilities of           modern computers are applied to collections management. Support from           programs such as the NSF Systematic Anthropological Collections Program           is also a critical element of this change. 

An NSF-sponsored collections inventory recently undertaken           by the NYSM provided an opportunity to assess the nature of the curated           sample of archeological material held by that institution (Sullivan           1987, 1989). The primary goal of the collections inventory was to make           these collections more accessible for research, but the compiled data           on collections composition also allowed recognition of information gaps.           

The NYSM is a 150-year-old institution that has been           "home" to a number of distinguished archeologists, including Arthur           C. Parker, M. R. Harrington, and William A. Ritchie, who made collections           that are still curated by the museum. It also serves as the repository           for collections resulting from many cultural resource management related           projects. The archeological collections include an estimated 1,000,000           objects and associated records with statewide coverage. As such, the           NYSM archeological collections are the most extensive for the State           of New York, and represent a century and a half of archeological research           in the Northeast (Sullivan et al. 1990).

The representativeness of the State Museum's collections           in relation to present knowledge of the nature of archeological resources           in the State was assessed by asking the following questions. How well           do the curated materials represent the archeological resources of the           geographic region, i.e., the State of New York, from which the museum           curates collections? Are all the known types of sites included? In what           proportions? At what level of recording/investigation? How well are           the investigations documented? Currently it is neither feasible to compile           precise statistics nor to directly compare the contents of the NYSM           collections with expected distributions of archeological resources in           various regions of the State,5           but several patterns are suggested by the inventory data. 

A series of maps and graphs showing collection distributions           by geographic area, time period, and volume serve to illustrate the           extent of coverage of the NYSM collections. First, as shown by Figure           1, a map of sites represented in the collections by county, the collections           do not provide even geographical coverage across the State. Although           potential distributional differences in site density in various areas           of the State cannot be discounted, it is clear that the archeological           resources from some counties and regions are very well represented and           others are not represented at all. 

 The same kind of distributional pattern appears true           for time periods, as shown in Figure 2. Although one would expect better           representation for later prehistoric periods than for earlier ones because           there are many more of the former, a graph of collections associated           with general time periods indicates that certain periods are better           represented than others. 

Another collecting pattern is indicated when Figure           3, a map showing the volumetric distribution of objects by county,           is compared with the distribution of sites by county shown in Figure           1. Differences in these distributions generally are related to the           level of intensity of investigation. Those counties with few sites,           but many objects, are indicative of large scale excavations having been           conducted at one or more sites. In contrast, those counties with numerous           sites, but few objects, are indicative of areas where some survey work           was done, but little in the way of excavations. Thus the intensity of           coverage also is variable across the State. 

A fourth type of collecting bias was apparent in the           course of the inventory work, but is difficult to illustrate quantitatively           due to poor information about the nature of individual sites. This bias           is related to kinds of sites that have been investigated intensively.           By far the majority of sites that have been systematically and intensively           investigated are large habitation sites or deeply stratified sites,           the latter type usually being located in floodplain environments or           rock shelters. Very little information exists in the NYSM collections           from upland sites, lithic scatters, small habitation sites, and the           like, even though such sites constitute the majority of the archeological           record. There also is very little information from systematic regional           survey. Instead, the collections are heavily biased toward those sites           that are rich in terms of artifact content. This bias is largely a function           of the history of the development of archeological research since stratified           and artifact rich sites are necessary for building chronologies. 

To summarize, the inventory of the State Museum's collections           provides very basic qualitative and quantitative information about the           representativeness of the present archeological database for New York           State as contained in extant collections. Scrutiny of the areas of most           comprehensive coverage suggests that because the bulk of the NYSM collections           was made by its in-house archeologists, the collections are more reflective           of these scholars' personal research interests rather than actual distributions           of archeological resources. For example, Arthur C. Parker (1907, 1922)           conducted much of his field research in extreme western New York and           the Finger Lakes area. William Ritchie and Robert Funk continued work           in the Finger Lakes region and also spent considerable time in the Hudson           Valley and southeastern section of the State (Ritchie and Funk 1973;           Funk 1976). This assessment is not intended to be a criticism of pursuit           of individual research objectives by archeologists, but, as has been           discussed, preservation of a database that can be used for future research           is an important consideration for cultural resource management (Dunnell           1984; Glassow 1977; Milner 1987; Salwen 1981). 

In general, cultural resource management projects have           not begun to fill in the gaps in areal or site type coverage that are           characteristic of the older collections. The lack of intensive investigations           of what could be considered small-scale sites is especially noteworthy.           This finding is consistent with a recent assessment of all archeological           work conducted in the Upper Hudson region of New York State (Bender           and Curtin 1990). Even though such sites are extremely important for           modeling regional human landuse patterns, these sites often are difficult           to interpret on an individual basis which makes case by case justifications           for intensive investigation troublesome. 

Other repositories may have collections that fill in           some of the gaps observed in the collections curated by the NYSM. Data           are not readily available to assess whether this may be the situation,           although the New York Archaeological Council has made some progress           toward a general inventory of extant collections for the State (Engelbrecht           et al. 1988). Some of the gaps in areal coverage may correlate with           the rate of modern development in certain regions. Areas with few archeological           investigations may indicate areas with the least development activity.           If this is indeed the case, then, in theory, the archeological record           for these areas persists as intact sites. 

The situation at the NYSM probably is typical in terms           of the collections in its care vis-a-vis its area of coverage. The specific           nature of biases in collections, however, may vary from institution           to institution, and from region to region, depending upon the kinds           of archeological problems historically investigated in specific areas           and the local characteristics of archeological resources.

Return to: Technical           Briefs | Section 1 | Section           2 | Section 3 | Section 4 | References | Notes             | **introduction**

**curation                 in the context of cultural resource management**

**curation                 as resource management**

**the                 ethical dilemma in the context of research museums**

**the                 new york state museum's collections: a case study of the present                 sample**

**mechanisms                 for effecting collections management by museums**

**steps                 toward coordinated regional planning**

**references**

**notes**

**print                 version  **

**technical briefs                 index** |
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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      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