Jamie Nord

The article I discovered in the current periodicals section, titled “Integration of Tribal Consultation to Help Facilitate Conservation and Collections Management at the Arizona State Museum,” illustrated the action research process of updating a museum’s conservation efforts of its cultural objects.  The Arizona State Museum contains 20,000 pottery pieces, but their preservation has proven difficult and concerning for the collection managers.  Therefore, their research question was “How can the Arizona State Museum assess and execute the preservation needs of its Native American pottery collection?”  The museum submitted a grant proposal to the NAGPRA Grant Program, since approximately 5,000 of the ceramic works of art were potentially eligible for repatriations.  The proposal funded the consultation efforts with members of the local tribal communities.  The goal of these consultations was to reevaluate the museum’s curation and preservation practices and to facilitate any repatriation requests that arose during the process.  They also conducted a condition survey of the pottery and compiled it into a database.  It allowed them to determine the different needs of the objects on a large scale, such as failing adhesive joins and required storage supports.  Thus, their data took the form of expert and cultural knowledge and shallow opinions and attitudes, which incorporated both categorical and respondent-centered data analysis.  The collection was moved into its new climate-controlled storage facility with greater visibility and access to the public.  However, the NAGPRA-eligible objects did not undergo any adhesive repairs, based on the opinions voiced in the tribal consultations. These objects were placed in archival storage until any official repatriation claims are processed.

Moreno, Teresa, Chris White, Alyce Sadongei, and Nancy Odegaard. “Integration of Tribal Consultation to Help Facilitate Conservation and Collections Management at the Arizona State Museum.” Society for American Archaeology 9, no. 2 (March 2009): 36-40.