Centers and Institutes
Center/Institute: Archaeological Research Facility
Director/Administrator: Steven R. James
College/Academic unit: Department of Anthropology, College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Contact Information: Steven R. James, McCarthy Hall 426, (714) 278-2765; Nancy Jenner, Archaeological Research Facility, McCarthy Hall 2, (714) 278-2386
Date: March 23, 2009
Name of primary authors if different
From Director/Administrator:
Self-Study
1. Mission
The Archaeological Research Facility (ARF) was formerly known as the Center for California Public Archaeology it houses “invaluable archaeological and ethnographic collections, and their records, in order to maintain their continuing research, educational, heritage, and cultural resource values for the university, Orange County and the state of California, and the federal government”. The ARF helps provide support for lab and field research including field classes and projects in southern California, the American southwest and Mesoamerica. Some archaeological materials from ARF are placed on loan to other cultural and educational institutions.
2. Goals and Activities
ARF has recently moved into newly constructed facilities in Room 2 of McCarthy Hall. Collections have been moved to a warehouse facility in Brea. A major inventory project is underway the goal is to have all records for each collection organized to facilitate the rehabilitation of the curation status of the collections. Data for the collections will be centralized in a computer data base. Faculty and students are now able to use the collections and collections can also be used in classroom instruction. In addition, outside professional archaeological researchers and others have used ARF facilities. Aside from archaeological collections, ARF contains archaeological field and lab equipment that is needed to conduct and support field classes, a summer archaeological field school in northern Arizona and the Anthropology Department’s summer archaeological field research in the Olmec area of southern Mexico.
3. Resources and Sustainability
The holdings of the AFR are vast and diverse. There are for example, at least 2500 curation boxes(each box is a cubic foot or larger), 400 unboxed ground stone artifacts and 10 file cabinets with archival documents, site records, and maps that provide supporting documentation of the archaeological materials. Funding for the facility is provided by the Department of Anthropology and the Dean’s office. The Director receives no assigned time for serving in this capacity. The facility employs an archaeological technician whose salary is funded by the Anthropology Department. The facility has relied recently on lottery funds used for curation supplies to make the collections more usable for educational purposes. Also the Director was recently (2006) awarded a grant from Caltrans to upgrade the curation of the Caltrans archeological collections held at CSUF and the Orange County Curation Facility.
4. Organizational Structure and Governance
As mentioned above there is a Director of the AFR and a technician. Presently there is no advisory committee/board. Decisions regarding the operation and planning for the facility are made by the Director in consultation with the Department Chair and Dean of the College. The Director, however, is recommending the establishment of an advisory committee that will include other faculty from the department and members from similar programs outside of the university including a museum professional.
5. Highlights and Accomplishments
It is reported in the self-study that the most recent major accomplishment of the AFR is has been moving into new facility in the basement of McCarthy Hall and the move of a portion of the archaeological collections into storage space in a warehouse in Brea. The facility serves as an important resource (archaeological curation) for faculty, students and the public.
6. Planning and Strategic Outlook
The AFR identifies CSUF as the only university in Orange County with a significant archaeological curation program which plays a critical role in preserving and protecting the region’s archaeological record and in making it accessible to qualified researchers. Working with the South Central Coastal Information Center in the Department of Anthropology, the Center for Oral History and Public History, and the Orange County Archaeo/Paleo project, the AFR places CSUF in the leadership position for understanding and researching Orange County’s history, ethnohistory, and prehistory.
The facility has identified several goals to purse over the next years including the development of an internship program in archaeological collections management; continue to work to build a facility to house the collections which meets state standards for archaeological curation; proceed with the rehabilitation and revitalization of existing collections, verifying inventory and bringing the storage conditions up to state standards; development of a community outreach program, including development of exhibits, loans artifacts, and presentations at local schools and community organizations.
To achieve these and other goals the facility will develop a funding base one such source would begin an “adopt a box” program in which a donor would supply $500 to curate one box of archaeological material in perpetuity.
7. Viability
The viability of the Archaeological Research Facility is established the facility is a repository of significant and invaluable archaeological and ethnographic collections that relate to the prehistory and ethnohistory of this region and indeed, of other regions of the world. The facility serves to enhance education (learning) research and the pursuit of knowledge in the archaeology and curation.
8. Appendices
Related photographs
Summary and Recommendation(s)
The Archaeological Research Facility (ARF) formerly known as the Center for California Public Archaeology houses a large and important resource of archaeological and ethnographic collections. ARF has recently moved to a new facility in McCarthy Hall and some of the facilities holdings are in a warehouse in Brea. ARF has identified and ambitious set of goals including the development of an internship program in archaeological management and to proceed with the rehabilitation and revitalization of existing collections, verifying inventory and bringing the storage conditions up to state standards. To achieve the goals the facility has devised fund raising ventures including an “adopt a box” program in which a donor would supply $500 to curate one box of archaeological material in perpetuity. ARF is led by a dedicated Director who is a faculty member in the Department of Anthropology and he is assisted by a paid technician. There is presently no advisory board/committee but the Director is recommending to the appropriate authorities that such a committee be established and has suggested that membership include faculty from the department as well as members external to the university including a museum professional. The Acting Dean supports the appointment of an advisory board/committee.
ARF provides for both faculty and students and researchers an important source for research and instruction.
Reviewed by Dean’s Council
April 1, 2009
Status: Continuation