Department of Defense and US Army Corps of Engineers Curation Options Project, Western and Mid-Atlantic States

At the request of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Environmental Quality) and the Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Corps’ St. Louis District performed a study of curation institutions in 20 western and two mid-Atlantic states. The goal of the project, called the Curation Options project, was to identify one institution in each state that has the capability and the interest to potentially partner with the federal government for the purpose of curating archaeological materials and associated documentation recovered from lands managed by the Army, Navy and Marines, Air Force, and Corps. For the project, between July 1996 and October 1997, the St. Louis District contacted 311 institutions and visited 50 to perform on-site evaluations. A standardized evaluation process was used to determine which institutions to visit, and to collect information during the on-site visit. Twenty-five of the 50 institutions are considered to be potential partners. Twenty-four institutions constitute the Individual State Option, which is comprised of one partner in each state and two each in California and Texas. Two additional curation options are presented for consideration: the Mixed State Option and the Regional Option, consisting of 18 and 10 partner institutions, respectively.