9307572 Bradley With National Science Foundation support, Dr. James Bradley will begin the task of reorganizing the archaeological collections of the R.S. Peabody Museum which is a part of Phillips Academy. Although the museum holds important scientific collections, these are difficult to use because of cataloging and storage problems. In this first phase of a long term project Dr. Bradley and his colleagues will focus on materials recovered from archaeological excavations in New England. They will check the physical locations of individual collections and compare them against handwritten catalog entries. After verification, information will be entered into a computerized data base. Objects themselves will, where necessary, be repacked both to enhance preservation and permit easy access. The R.S. Peabody Museum was established in 1901 and in addition to serving as a repository, has played an extremely active role in field research. Much of this was local and therefore the New England collections are particularly strong and extensive. They document thousands of years of prehistory in this region and permit archaeologists not only to reconstruct culture history but to look at issues such as environmental change and human- environment interactions. Archaeological collections in museums constitute an important scientific data base and should play a central role in research. However when they are improperly stored and catalogued they are extremely difficult to use. Such is the case at the Phillips Peabody Museum and Dr. Bradley's project is important because it will help to remedy this situation.
