The Cleveland Museum of Natural History contains over two million specimens and related documents in their archaeology and physical anthropology collections. These objects were gathered in a systematic fashion on many research expeditions and as such contain a valuable resource for anthropological research. The museum has completed several collections managment projects in the past, making the collections safe and accessible to researchers. However, the documentation that accompanies these collections is in need of improvement. To date, this information has been inaccessible, damanged by continuous use, and proven time consuming to use. With this grant, the museum will be able to computerize and cross index its collections papers. This will produce a data base that can be used by several researchers simultaneously and prevent serious deterioration of the resource. The collections of the Cleveland Museums of Natural History are used by scholars from all over the world. They are the basis for significant anthropological and interdisciplinary research. With this improvement grant, the collections will be even more accessible and will stimulate integrated and comparative research.
