Anthropological Collections:
Main points:
 Seven of 11 anthropology faculty members’ research and teaching focuses on study of material culture
and scientific specimens
o Jay Custer, archaeology
o Lu Ann De Cunzo , archaeology
o Jill Neitzel, archaeology
o Thomas Rocek, archaeology
o Peter Roe, archaeology and ethnographic collections
o Karen Rosenberg, biological anthropological collections (focus on primates/ homo species)
o Peter Weil, art and ethnographic collections

The Anthropology department is responsible for the largest collection of material culture and specimens
at the University of Delaware. These include:
o The University of Delaware is mandated by State Code to act as a repository for materials from
publicly funded archaeological projects. UDCAR, a research center within the department, fulfills
this mandate for the University, under the direction of Professor Jay Custer. These collections are
subject to curation policies specified by the Delaware Bureau of Museum and Historic Properties
(isn’t this now Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs?) as per federal regulation.
o Research collections temporarily under the care of the department for research, curation, teaching
o Comparative type collections of archaeological and faunal materials
o Study and teaching collections: primate and homo skeletal casts, archaeological and ethnographic
materials donated to the department for these purposes

Anthropologists have a leadership role in the international dialogue concerning future directions in the
areas of collecting, curating, studying, and exhibiting material culture and human remains
o Issues such as ethics, intellectual property rights and shared authority, scientific research and
values, new research technologies

Department faculty and students have been active participants in this dialogue on collecting in the
areas of archaeological, ethnographic, art, and biological anthropological collections
Can we insert here any data re: student research projects leading to theses or other products beyond
the standard research paper making use of our collections? Numbers of student summer research
scholars, internships, etc.? to highlight the work that’s been done in recent years?

Conclusion: the Anthropology department seeks support to further promote excellence in our
stewardship of, scholarship about, and teaching with anthropological collections. The following 2 areas
are those of greatest need:
o Lab space for teaching and research. The committee noted a “clear and urgent need for more
laboratory space” for both teaching and research. The department is located in Munroe Hall.
While the department has twice reconfigured the area we occupy in order to alleviate space
constraints, the work areas for archeology, the primary or secondary specialty of five of our faculty,
are extremely cramped. In Munroe Hall, two faculty members (Professors De Cunzo and Rocek)
share an inadequate laboratory space, as well as another inadequate space at a remote location
(I.E.C.) that was given to the department as a temporary measure to alleviate our space crisis in
the early 1990s. This space is difficult for students to get to and even more importantly, not
conducive to or appropriate for regular faculty supervision and mentoring of students doing
research. This lack of space has restricted Rocek’s and De Cunzo’s students to work only with
archaeological materials from the faculty members’ current research projects. They have
accommodated each others’ research schedules as there is insufficient space for both to have
large scale collections processing, documentation, or research projects going at the same time.
No archaeological laboratory space is currently available to Professors Neitzel and Roe.
Professor Rosenberg has graciously made available space in the biological anthropology
laboratory for ethnographic and archaeology students and grant-funded interns unable to be
accommodated in the spaces available to their faculty mentors’, for workshops, training, and
course meetings requiring laboratory space. (someone please elaborate on this)
The committee also noted the department’s pressing need for an ethnographic laboratory for both
teaching and research. Such a space would allow us to provide hands-on training in the
documentation and analysis of ethnographic materials within cultural anthropology. No such facility
exists at present and this severely limits the possibilities for student training in ethnographic field
methods and laboratory research on ethnographic materials.
Moreover, department teaching and study collections have outgrown the available space to house
them on campus in a location readily accessible to faculty and students. They are currently
secured in an off site storage facility.
Space needs were noted in the 1998 Academic Program Review and beyond efforts the
department took to restructure our existing space, this issue has not been addressed since that
time.
o Department Collections
The department is committed to excellence in managing the collections under its stewardship. As
noted above, we are responsible for many types of collections, each with their own needs and
mandates. The program review committee focused on UDCAR collections, and their failure to consult
with Professor Custer resulted in an inaccurate representation of the State and Federal policies
governing those collections.
As a basis for collections planning for the future, the department proposes to review the management
of all collections for which the department holds ultimate legal and / or other contractual responsibilities.
Documentation of existing policies, procedures, and practices will be assembled, evaluated, updated
as appropriate, and made readily available for review in the office of the department Chair. We request
support from the University to implement the following plan:

Establish a collections committee consisting of all faculty members who work with
anthropological collections. The committee will formalize a department-wide written collections
policy, draft a procedures manual and continue to oversee the departmental collections. The
policy and manual will be submitted to the faculty and the Chair for approval. The committee
will report annually to the department Chair.

The collections manual will include a policy statement that: outlines what the department and
its internal units do and do not collect; categorizes existing collections; and provides guidelines
for management, access, oversight and use of each type of collection. The manual will also
specify the curator of each collection under departmental stewardship.

The committee will also oversee the assembly, completion and updating of collections records
for all departmental collections. These records include deeds of gift, contracts, other legal
documents, inventories, and other records specified by the committee. They will be submitted
to the Chair of the Department and then kept on file in the department office. Some of these
materials are already available.

Collections condition assessments and evaluation of storage conditions will be completed
under the oversight of the committee in order to identify needs and prepare collections plans.

Compliance by the department and its internal units with collections policies is the
responsibility of the Chair of the Department of Anthropology, and documentation supporting
compliance will be maintained on file in the office of the Chair.
We request support to complete and update collections inventories, undertake a condition assessment of
the collections, and of storage conditions, and to develop a statement of needs and collections plan.