Archeological and Natural Resource Collections of the National Park Service: Opportunities and Threats

Archeological and natural resource collections are nonrenewable and become increasingly valuable over time. Some would argue that collections and collecting have been severely threatened by decreasing financial and other support, especially over the last decade. However, this situation does not fully apply to the National Park Service (NPS). NPS archeological and natural resource collections have grown, as has the rate of collecting, though less than 2% of NPS collections are natural resource specimens, whereas 52% are archeological. (The other 46% are historical, ethnographic, and archival collections.) When the NPS began compiling annual statistics in 1983, it found that the rate of collecting far exceeded the rate of cataloguing. In addition, many collections were stored or exhibited in substandard conditions. The NPS developed a strategy identifying the problems and estimating the cost for correction. The plan influenced Congress to increase appropriations to the NPS for collections management, which, from 1988 through 1994, have totaled $26.7 million. Following the lead of the NPS, the Department of the Interior has adopted a similar strategy.