Veteran Archivists: The Harry S. Truman Reservoir Project

The Saint Louis laboratory of the Veterans Curation Program processes several archival investigations throughout each five month term, but few have been to the scale of the Harry S. Truman Reservoir Project. This project produced 23 boxes worth of documentation spanning over 268 linear inches. The Harry S. Truman Reservoir is the largest man-made lake in Missouri and covers over 100,000 acres of government owned and flood easement lands. To prepare for the construction of the dam, a number of contractors documented over 2,300 archaeological sites in nine counties; field work that spanned over five years. This paper will discuss an overview of important sites encountered in this archaeological survey, as well as the successes and unintended consequences of utilizing veterans new to the curation of archaeological collections.