Improvement of Storage and Access to Native American Basket Collection

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With National Science Foundation support, the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley will purchase a compactor shelving system with 147 cabinets, each supplied with internal shelving and hinged doors. These will be used to store the museum's collection of Native American baskets. The largest portion consists of 9,014 specimens from California. An additional 2,235 derive from other areas in North America. The first entry in the collection's catalogue dates to 1901 and the museum has worked consistently to the present time to collect materials which document the variability and change over time of this artifact class. The materials are accompanied by excellent documentation which in some cases this includes not only finished product, but also the raw materials from which it was made along with information on details of the manufacturing process. The collection has been widely used for research purposes and each year many scholars request access to this material. Because of limited space these baskets have been improperly stored. Items are stacked one inside the other, a practice which can lead to deformation in shape. This also means that to retrieve a single specimen, many must be moved and the result is an unacceptable degree of wear and tear. The University has made additional space available which, if properly used, will alleviate the overcrowding problem. Compactors provide an excellent and widely employed means to store large amounts of material in a relatively small space and this grant will permit the baskets to be stored without stacking. This will result in enhanced preservation of the materials and improve access to anthropologists who wish to study them.