COLLECTIONS STEWARDSHIP

Recognizing that the Peabody Institute’s collaborative learning offerings at Andover and beyond are anchored in our significant collections we have begun an ambitious project to improve both physical and intellectual control over our holdings. This includes cataloging of the collections, online access, opportunities for scholars and researchers, and a focus on the Institute’s work duty program. [3] Linda S. Cordell Memorial Research Award

[1] Research, Scholar Visits, and Loans The Cordell Award Endowment was established in 2013 in honor of the late Linda S. Cordell, eminent archaeologist In fiscal year 2019-20, the Peabody hosted 1 reof the American Southwest and member of the Peabody search visit and responded to 27 inquiries regardAdvisory Committee (PAC). Linda was Senior Scholar ing our collections. These numbers are down from at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, New previous years likely due to COVID-19 health Mexico, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, closures. recipient of the A.V. Kidder Medal for eminence in AmeriAbout a quarter of the research inquiries were Advisory Committee. The award recipients in 2019-20 related to collections amassed by Ross Moffett were Dr. Gabriel Hrynick and Dr. Arthur Anderson. and Fred Carty. Moffett was a professional artist and amateur archaeologist who was interested in Drs. Hrynick and Anderson are faculty at the University of the archaeology of Cape Cod. His collection was New Brunswick and University of New England, respecdrawing interest as scholars and museums were tively. Much of their fieldwork and research are focused exploring ways to discuss and frame the impact in far Down East, Maine on Cobscook Bay, Washington of the Pilgrims arrival to the region 400 years ago. County and they are particularly interested in the colCarty was a prolific archaeologist in the greater lections from the Northeastern Archaeological Survey Boston area whose work is an important reference (NAS) from the late 1940s to the middle 1950s. In adfor cultural resource management professionals. dition to better understanding the NAS collection, Drs. The remaining inquires ranged from requests of from the very earliest period of European Interaction with images of copper nuggets from the Great Lakes to Maine and the Maritime Provinces. Their current project assistance identifying handwriting on unidentified is funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research artifact tags to the involvement of the Peabody in Council of Canada. supporting the Andover Press in the early twentieth century. Due to COVID-19 health concerns, the Cordell Fellow[2] Work Duty 2019-2020 2021. Work duty at the Peabody is a major point of For more on the Linda S. Cordell Memorial Research interaction with the institution. During fiscal year Award see our blog. 2019-20, 16 students performed their work duty can Archaeology, and a valued member of the Peabody Hrynick and Anderson are looking to identify artifacts ship for Drs. Hrynick and Anderson will be postponed to with the Peabody collections department. Collectively, the students provided approximately 200 [4] Volunteers 2019-2020 hours of work over the school year, depending on Volunteers help collections staff with a variety of collectheir assigned duties. Their primary tasks includtions project from inventorying the collection to pest ed inventorying artifacts for re-boxing, proctormanagement to preparing artifacts for classes. Projects ing study hours, and preparing objects for use in include continued pest management treatment, assisting classes. with the full inventory of the collection, and processing archives. Volunteer activity is crucial to our success!

Peabody Collections by the Numbers

500,000+ Archaeology Collections

2,200+ Ehtnographic Collections

570+ linear feet in Archives

9,000+ books in Library

5,092 Sites and locations in 38 countries, with principal collections from the United States and Canada

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Collections Stewardship (cont’)

[5] Ledger Transcription Project

In 2018, the Peabody began a project to transcribe each line of text in the Institute’s original accession ledgers from the early twentieth century. Original catalog records at the Institute are largely on paper – a single line of handwritten text can contain all the documented information for a specific artifact. The Abbot Academy Fund generously provided a two-part grant to support a project transcriptionist to enter all of this information into an Excel document. Thanks to the work of that transcriptionist, and Peabody collections staff, all 78,049 individual entries are now digitized!

[6] NAGPRA

The Peabody has been in the forefront of Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) compliance since the inception of the act in the 1990s. Peabody collections have included ancestral human remains and funerary objects from 124 sites in 29 states. Collections have been affiliated with 60 tribes, though the Peabody houses ancestral remains from 41 sites considered to be culturally unidentified under the NAGPRA act and rule. Major consultations resulting in affiliation of human remains and funerary objects include Etowah (Georgia) and Abbott Farm in New Jersey. Requests for repatriation and consultation with tribes continue today.

We published three Notices of Inventory Completion, one corrected notice, and one Notice of Intent to Repatriate in the Federal Register this year. These notices include ancestors and belongings from Abbott Farm in New Jersey, unidentified sites in Massachusetts, and multiple sites in Florida. Consultations with tribes have included the Wampanoag, Seminole Tribe of Florida, Osage Nation, Delaware Tribe of Indians and the Delaware Nation of Oklahoma.

[7] Box Us In

The Peabody’s ongoing quest for full physical and intellectual control over the collection, the reboxing and inventory project took another massive step forward this fiscal year despite an interruption by COVID-19. With the assistance of inventory specialists John Bergman-McCool and Emily Hurley, 426 drawers were inventoried and transferred into nearly 630 boxes. This work has taken the inventory to the brink of 75% completion! This translates to counting and inventorying nearly 80,000 individual artifacts during this year alone.

The inventory was slated for completion by January 2021, but circumstances related to COVID-19 has caused a reassessment of that goal. A new deadline has not yet been established, but progress will continue in whatever form is possible. The work is thorough, detailed, and invaluable to establishing intellectual control over the collection.

Our sincere gratitude continues to go out to the generosity of the Oak River Foundation, Barbara and Les Callahan, and the Abbot Academy Fund.

[8] Adopt a Drawer Program

In 2013, the Peabody Institute launched a fundraising promotion called Adopt A Drawer that invites donors to support the cataloging of one of more than 2,100 artifact storage drawers at the Peabody. Work duty students and interns are heavily involved in the cataloging work. Donors receive updates on the cataloging, including before and after photos, as well as acknowledgement in our online catalog.

As of June 30, 2020, generous donors have adopted 91 artifact storage drawers – 17 during this fiscal year. These drawers hold material ranging from PaleoIndian sites in New England to the Pecos Valley in New Mexico; from Florida to the homestead of a freed Black woman in Andover. As these drawers are inventoried, they will appear in the Peabody’s online catalog.

Box Us In Update

1, 597 Total drawers inventoried

364, 580 Total objects counted in inventory

562 Drawers remaining

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