Hey Guys,

Just a short note to thank all of you who responded to my original 
question re: curation policies, and the potential culling of certain 
artifact classes.

As most of your thoughts and opinions were presented on-line, I won't 
reiterate them here.  Clearly, opinions differed, but from my 
perspective, most seemed to accept the position that current curation 
strategies and requirements CAN effectively include selective 
disposal, although the institution of such a policy should be 
codified in advance ... with enough flexibility built-in to respond 
to individual project requirements.  I was pleased to note that 
several institutions and agencies have or are in the process of 
developing such formal strategies ...

Given the nature of archeological recovery, particularly with respect 
to "recent" historic period resources, and the increasing cost of 
curation ... the concept of conserving everything that is recovered 
is clearly an approach that only J.M Barrie would endorse.   And in 
the end, even Peter decided to join the real world ...

I was particularly struck by the logic of the Maryland statutes (as 
quoted in Praetzellis and Costello (2002), which, I'm paraphrasing, 
stated that archeological sites are routinely rated/assessed in terms 
of significance, and treated accordingly ... And by extension, 
there's no logical reason to treat archaeological collections from 
those sites any differently.  Some artifacts (or artifact classes) 
are of more signficance than others for long-term curation, and 
can/should be dealt with accordingly.

Thanks again.
-- 

Mark C. Branstner
Historic Archaeologist

Illinois Transportation
Archaeological Research Program
209 Nuclear Physics Lab, MC-571
23 East Stadium Drive
Champaign, IL 61820

Phone: 217.244.0892
Fax: 217.244.7458
Cell: 517.927.4556
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"There is also an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth,
without either virtue or talents ... The artificial aristocracy is a
mischievous ingredient in government, and provisions should be made to
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- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)