In a message dated 8/2/2007 2:00:36 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
Altho...my boss wouldn't see any point in measuring them....apparently.
He is asking WHY I am measuring items...like bottles, etc. !!!! (since
he thinks it takes too much Time; and time is $ - which, for this
project [like SO many] there is a big lack of).
Doesn't everyone measure the whole dimensions? Tho, that wasn't an
adequate answer to give him. He wants to know WHAT these measurements
will TELL him...for his report. He sounds like the darn cheapskate
client who doesn't want to pay much to deal with the collection.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
His (boss's) rationale for my not going in to so much Detail (IOW,
spending Less time) in the catalog is..."any future researcher wont
trust Your [anyone elses] data - they will want to Look at the bottles
[whatever] themselves, take their own measurements, etc."
Well...just how many of us have the luxury of actually going to Where
the collection is...and spending the time to look thru everything?
Wouldn't reviewing the original catalog of the items suffice (in most
cases)? Unless...the catalog was inadequate, since the analyst didn't
include...measurements, or other important attributes.
Sorry...just had to vent. If you reply to this tangent, please Change
the subject line...so it doesn't continue to be Horsehoes, and mislead
those who only want to find out about them.
Carol,
I am appalled at what I am reading. When people bid on jobs, they build in
enough time to take the proper measurements and collect the data our profession
requires. Why on earth would your supervisor at Jones & Stokes interfere
with standard laboratory analysis? As to the luxury of time, I think your
supervisor has lost the point of conducting comparative analysis with other
relevant collections. The whole purpose of curating collections is so future
researchers can study them, and this includes consultants. But collections cannot
be dumped in sacks with zero measurements or catalog codes. This time is also
built into contract proposals. Failure to consult other people's reports or
the collections could render a deficiency in the report that could cause your
client a significant delay or even kill the project. If, on the other hand,
the reviewing agency is allowing poor quality work to pass over their desks,
then shame on them. Proper documentation is standard procedure. Is your
supervisor an archaeologist or a bean counter? What is he doing for conservation of
the collections?
Moreover, I would like to add that 40-years ago people ran out to salvage
collections in the path of bulldozers and then just dumped sacks of artifacts in
museums with the misbegotten belief some future person would count, measure
and make sense of the mess. But all that ended with the raft of federal and
state laws and court decisions that defined the 1970s-1990s. No one fails to
record basic data today. What happened to the Ph.D. archaeologist who assumed
the management role of your company?
Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.
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