Until last year, we were exclusive distributors of a museum collections 
software called PastPerfect, now used by about 3500 museums. By sharing 
a common software, nomenclature, and descriptive fields, it was designed 
to make it easier for researchers to look between various museum 
collections for comparative materials. A web component to the program 
made searching the web for these materials even easier, though most 
museums didn't upload their collections.  We are only supplementary 
distributors of PastPerfect now, but I still think it is a pretty good 
aid for researchers to navigate collections that might contain nails or 
similar objects. You can probably get a list of all PastPerfect-using 
museums from their website, www.museumsoftware.com.
mitch

Allen Vegotsky wrote:

>The current thread on nails reminded me that sometimes museums can provide critical information for dating and researching artifacts.  While we cannot travel to all the museums in the world, we can contact curators (often by email) and get authoritative information.  These thoughts were brought to mind by a strange paperback book in my library called "America's Strangest Museums: A Traveler's Guide to the Most Unusual and Eccentric Collections."  It is by Sandra Gurvis, published by the Carol Publishing Group in Secaus, New Jersey, 1998.  Thumbing through the book, there are a number of little known museums that may be helpful to archaeologists, such as the Mount Vernon Museum of Incandescent Lighting (Baltimore.  Includes about 70,000 light bulbs), the Mike Weaver Drain Tile Museum (Geneva, New York.  500 piece collection), The Center for the History of Foot Care and Foot Wear (Philadelphia.  250 pairs of shoes on display), The American Museum of Brewing History and Arts (Fort Mitchell, Kentucky.  23,000 bottles, 13,000 cans), The Museum of Beverage Containers and Advertising (Goodlettsville, Tennessee. 9000 soda bottles, 18,000 diffferent soda cans), and many others.
>
>Allen Vegotsky
>  
>

-- 
Mitch Allen
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