A Curation-Needs Assessment of Historical Collections at Select Facilities for the US Department of Veterans Affairs

At the request of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis District, Mandatory Center of Expertise for the Curation and Management of Archaeological Collections (MCX), conducted a pilot study to assist the VA in determining the volume of its collections and current collections needs nationwide and the tasks required to bring them into compliance with 36 CFR Part 79 (Curation of Federally-Owned and Administered Archaeological Collections).
Compliance assessments of buildings and collections were performed at 16 medical centers, cemeteries, and Central Offices for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), and the National Cemetery Administration (NCA). MCX personnel evaluated each building that housed collections in order to determine its level of compliance with 36 CFR Part 79, the baseline used as guidance for federal archaeological and non-archeological collections and buildings housing them.
Only one of the 54 buildings housing VA collections is in full compliance with 36 CFR Part 79; this building is a non-VA facility. The MCX also identified various collections at each facility visited and provided suggestions and estimates (for archaeological objects and historical records only) for bringing them into compliance with the curation regulation.
A total of 130.3 ft3 of archaeological objects, 889 linear feet of historical records, 109 pieces of artwork, 12 architectural objects, and 91 large historical objects plus an additional 420.9 ft3 of historical objects/memorabilia were examined.