Housing Archaeological Collections at the Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum
Source: Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum
This e-book, written by Sara Berg, describes housing practices developed for archaeological objects
of various material types within the Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum (JHAM) collection, a teaching collection. The goal of this guide is to share some of the procedures, tips, and lessons learned during the museum’s four-year effort to rehouse its collection. We hope it will be a resource for museum staff, particularly those at small institutions such as our own, who despite limited resources, want to be ethical and professional stewards for their collections. The needs of smaller collections whose staff may not know where to begin with collections housing are considered in each of the feasible, easily implemented, small-scale (and scalable) interventions presented here. This document assumes no prior knowledge in housing objects, and therefore covers fundamental housing principles and provides step-by-step construction instructions for containers and supports. Those new to housing may find it beneficial to read this text from start to finish and those more experienced in housing may be interested in the more complex approaches described.
