SPECIAL ISSUE: INTERNATIONAL CURATION STANDARDS the archaeol ogica l reco rd SAA MARCH 2009 • V OLUME 9 • N UMBER 2 SOCIETY FOR AMERICAN ARCHAEOLO GY EXPERIENCE THE NEW SAAWEB WWW.SAA.ORG SAAWEB call for Member Photos The Society for American Archaeology (SAA) invites its members to submit their archaeological photos for the homepage of the new SAAweb. SAA hopes to receive a range of submissions reflecting the diversity of experiences worldwide throughout the membership. If you would like to submit an image for consideration on the SAAweb homepage, please contact Meghan Tyler, SAA's Coordinator, Membership and Marketing, at +1-202-789-8200 or [email protected]. Please be sure your image meets the following specifica - tions: Format: JPEG Resolution: 300 dpi (minimum) Size: 487 pixels (width) x 290 pixels (height) Layout: Horizontal Photos should be submitted along with a caption of 20 words or less on the photo or 50 words or less accompanying the photo. The photographer’s name and written permission from the copyright holder must also be included to be eligible for consideration. Sub - mission of photo(s) does not guarantee placement. the SAAarchaeologicalrecord The Magazine of the Society for American Archaeology Volume 9, No. 2 March 2009 Editor’s Corner 2 Andrew Duff In Brief 3 Tobi Brimsek An Open Letter to the SAA Membership: Ethics 4 The Recent Past: Why I gave Away My American 6 Mark Warner Antiquity : Some Thoughts on the Relationship Between Historical Archaeologists and American Antiquity special issue: international curation standards Edited by Jessica S. Johnson Finds sorted and labeled, ready for International Curation Standards: Sharing Ideas for 8 Jessica S. Johnson temporary storage, ADB Bern. Improved Preservation and Access ©ADB Bern Badri Redha A Future for the Past: The work of the Archaeological 9 Kathy K. Perrin Archives Forum in the UK and the EAC Archives Working Party in Europe Conservation of Archaeological Archives in Switzerland: 13 Barbara Chevallier and Cynthia Dunning What’s Working, What’s Not, in the Canton of Bern From the Dust to the Disk: Collection and Preservation 17 David Bibby of Digital Excavation Data in Baden-Württemberg Archaeological Collection Review at Parks Canada 21 Virginia Myles Creating Digital Access to Archaeological Collections: 25 Julia A. King The View from Maryland The Logan Museum of Anthropology’s Collections 31 William Green and Nicolette Meister Accessibility Project: A Multi-Phase Approach to Improving Preservation and Access Integration of Tribal Consultation to Help Facilitate 36 Teresa Moreno, Chris White, Conservation and Collections Management at the Alyce Sadongei, and Nancy Odegaard Arizona State Museum In Memoriam: Thomas F. Kehoe 41 Alice B. Kehoe positions open 42 calendar 42 news and notes 43 the SAAarchaeologicalrecord The Magazine of the Society for American Archaeology Volume 9, No. 2 March 2009 EDITOR’S CORNER The SAA Archaeological Record (ISSN 1532-7299) is published five times a year Andrew Duff and is edited by Andrew Duff. Deadlines for submissions are: Decem - ber 1 (January), February 1 (March), Andrew Duff is an Associate Professor of anthropology at Washington State University. April 1 (May), August 1 (September), and October 1 (November); send to Andrew Duff, The SAA Archaeological Record, Andrew Duff, Department of Anthropology, Washington State Uni - versity, Pullman, WA 99164-4910, (509) 335-7828, or email [email protected]. Man - uscript submission via email or by disk is encouraged. Advertising and place - his thematic issue of The SAA Archaeological Record features several papers on ment ads should be sent to SAA head - “International Curation Standards” that were first delivered in a session at last quarters, 900 Second St., NE #12, Wash - T ington, DC 20002, (202) 789-8200. year’s SAA meetings. These papers highlight the serious issues confronting Associate editors include: those charged with managing the ever-increasing amounts of artifacts, records, plans, Gabriela Uruñuela [Exchanges, Mexico and digital data we generate. Though the session was subtitled “What’s Working? & Central America] email: [email protected] What’s Not?” these papers highlight solutions and describe the systematic practices Jose Luis Lanata [Exchanges, Southern devised in a variety of different settings. What struck me was the distinction between Cone] more centralized systems of, and approaches to, curation evidenced in the European email: jllanata@filo.uba.ar Anne Vawser [Government] examples, and the more individualized solutions devised by other institutions. I sus - email: [email protected] pect much of the readership puts relatively little thought into the long-term curation of Susan Chandler [Insights] their collections and the challenges this poses, even though we have plans and agree - email: susan_chandler@ alpinearchaeology.com ments for the curation of our collections. I’d like to thank Lynne Sullivan for initially Mark Aldenderfer [Interface] contacting me with the idea for these as a special issue and, especially, Jessica Johnson email: [email protected] John Hoopes [Networks] for coordinating their submission and editing these. email: [email protected] Teresa Pinter [Public Education] The issue also features an open letter authored by members of a recently convened email: [email protected] Jamie Brandon [The Recent Past] meeting on ethics. They invite the participation of SAA members in a dialog (via email: [email protected] “blog”) on several topics of broad concern. Topically focused, select excerpts from these Kurt Dongoske [Working Together] web discussions will appear as brief pieces in future issues of The SAA Archaeological email: [email protected] Record. Inquiries and submissions should be addressed directly to them. The SAA Archaeological Record is provided free to Mark Warner’s The Recent Past column raises the question of American Antiquity’s rel - members and institutional subscribers to American Antiquity and Latin American evance for historical archaeologists, a matter worthy of concern to the general mem - Antiquity worldwide. The SAA Archaeologi - bership. Increasing differentiation within the Society has been a long-standing devel - cal Record can be found on the Web in PDF opment, but I think it worth trying minimize. The reading and publishing habits of format at scholars are frequently developed in graduate school, and if American Antiquity is not www.saa.org/publications/ thesaaarchrec/index.html. among the primary journals used and read by historical archaeologists, this will have Past issues of the SAA Bulletin can be long-term implications for the journal, and perhaps the SAA. found at www.saa.org/publications/ Finally, as you prepare your papers or posters for the Atlanta meetings, please consid - saabulletin/index.html. er submitting these to The SAA Archaeological Record —you can even do this before you Copyright © 2009 by the head to Atlanta! I am especially interested in groups of papers that might appear as a Society for American Archaeology. All Rights Reserved thematic issue—something that can easily develop out of a session at the SAA meet - ings or from another venue—and would be happy to talk or correspond with anyone Manager, Publications: John Neikirk who would like to develop a group for a future issue. Individual contributions are ide - Design: Victoria Russell ally between 1500–2000 words (including any references cited and notes), with a few Papertiger Studio •Washington, DC tables, illustrations or photographs. Thematic issues ideally consist of five or six papers Production: Peter Lindeman that conform to the guidelines just noted. Please contact me with any questions, with Oakland Street Publishing • Arlington, VA items for the “Calendar” or “News and Notes,” “In Memoriam” notices, or to submit an article ([email protected]). 2 The SAA Archaeological Record • March 2009 IN BRIEF IN BRIEF Tobi A. Brimsek Tobi A. Brimsek is executive director of the Society for American Archaeology. Communications Redux! No Marketing Via Email Policy Last March this column was focused on communications Please also note that marketing SAA products and services is between the Society and its members and the cost effectiveness never done by email! In fact, there is a Board of Directors poli - and timeliness in the use of email. That continues to be the case cy in place that prohibits using email for marketing to the mem - and is even more important in this current global economic bership. What is key is that critical communications are being downturn. As a result, this column is once again devoted to sent electronically , and the Society wants to ensure that your ensuring that you are aware of SAA email addresses that need email system does not prevent you from receiving them. For to navigate your spam filters successfully. example, there are ballot links, confirmations for meeting reg - istration, and renewal notices, to name a few. Spam Filters Please Keep Your Email Address Current Staff has continued to observe that emails sent from SAA’s departmental mail boxes ([email protected] or meet - We currently have email addresses from 92% of the member - [email protected], for example—-see below for complete list) are ship. Our goal is 100%! Please join your colleagues and provide not reaching some destinations due to the more sophisticated us with an accurate email address. Should you need to make a spam filters in use. The Society would appreciate it if you would change to your existing email address, you may do that online set your filters to accept emails from a few different addresses yourself or just drop the staff an email at [email protected], within SAA. and we will be happy to make changes to your record for you. The bottom line is that SAA wants to communicate to you on a SAA Email Addresses timely and cost- effective basis. Email allows us to do that. Let’s continue to put technology to work for the Society and member The table below outlines the basic correspondence from the dollars toward programs, not administrative costs.