Improving Access to the Human Osteology Collections of the Peabody Museum

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The human osteology collection housed at the Peabody Museum, Harvard University, is one of the largest and most important systematic collections of its type in the country. It consists of over 15,000 individuals from well documented archaeological, medical, and forensic investigations. These collections form a broad comparative resource for cross cultural research in physical anthropology. The increasing demands on the collection by researchers and lack of adequate storage space have made it difficult to utilize these collections effectively. To remedy this problem, museum personnel will reorganize and upgrade the storage facilities, conduct an inventory and conservation survey, and develop a computerized catalogue system. Human osteology collections are significant research resources because of the light they can shed on the changing relationships of culture and biology through human history.