Processing Historic Collection-washing:
Materials needed for washing: two wash tubs (one for washing, one for rinsing), brushes, dental
picks, q-tips, solution of 50% water 50% alcohol, wash tags, clean bags, and pencil.
Due to size of artifacts they may not have an original field bag and artifacts washed should be
directly placed on paper towels in drying racks. Label drawers with feature number and any
other pertinent information. Otherwise the rebagging procedure of artifacts is the same as
prehistoric collections, with the exception of catalog numbers.
Ceramics and brick should be wet washed, first washed in washtub then submerged into the rinse
tub to remove residual soil and debris.
Oxidized/fragile metals should be gently dry brushed to remove loose soil and debris. Metals
with enamel, or coins, and jewelry can be either dry brushed or washed with a 50/50 solution.
Glass may be wet washed, first washed in washtub then submerged into the rinse tub to remove
residual soil and debris. When washing bottles use the long brushes, trying to remove as much
soil and debris as possible. If there is a paper label, or painted label present on the bottle DO
NOT SUMBMERGE IN WATER, wash as much of the bottle as you can and leave the area with
label alone and place in drying rack.
Celluloid, plastic, and Bakelite should be wet washed, first washed in washtub then submerged
into the rinse tub to remove residual soil and debris.
Leather and other textiles should be dry brushed or left alone and placed into the drying rack.
Paper collected should be left alone unless it is damp, then it should dry out completely and be
placed into a clean 2-mil bag immediately for help in preservation.
Bone and shell should be dry brushed gently unless too fragile. The fragile bone and shell
should be left to dry if damp then place into 2-mil clean bags, when thoroughly dry, for help in
preservation.
* Be sure to change to water frequently for both prehistoric and historic washing, the rule is if
you can’t he bottom of the tub.
Processing Historic Collection-washing, continued:
* Extra attention should be paid to ceramics and bottles. Ceramics can take longer to dry due to
the porosity of material. Bottle shapes can hold excess water, in this case tip bottle upside down
shaking vigorously to remove water, may need to repeat several times.
CURATION
Curating Historic Collections
Generally the lab follows specific curation guidelines from repositories, if not, follow AAR’s
guidelines explained below.
In some instances historic artifacts should be directly labeled, if so please refer to the labeling
section in curating prehistoric artifacts. Materials that can be directly labeled include glass,
ceramics, celluloid, plastics, and metal when applicable. All other artifacts should be indirectly
labeled using exterior acid-free foil backed labels.
AAR’s curation standards for historic collections do not require the direct labeling of artifacts.
Historic collections are organized by features within a site. Artifacts are placed in 2-mil bags
unless the artifact has sharp or jagged edges; the artifact is then placed in 4-mil bags. The bags
exterior is identified with acid-free foil backed labels with an interior acid-free tag.
Organize the feature’s bags in numerical order. Small artifacts and unstable artifacts should be
placed grey metal edge boxes. Large and oversized artifacts are placed directly into Hollinger
boxes. Volara should be used inside bags of jagged metal and unstable artifacts. Volara should
also be placed between artifact bags for secure packing for long-term storage..
Historic faunal material within a feature is contained together as one bag. Inside the bag the
bone is divided by taxonomy.
Historic artifacts are stored similar to prehistoric collections. Grey metal edged boxes are
labeled the same way, numbering is based on how many grey boxes per Hollinger box. The
Hollinger boxes are numbered base on how many boxes per Feature.
Hollinger Box Example:
Site: 35MU100 Year: 2007
Feature 3
Storage Box 1 of 10
Contents:
Historic Material
Historic artifact catalogs and box inventories should be placed within the first box of every
feature. Inventories and catalogs are placed inside acid-free folders.
Photograph Procedures
Materials needed for historic photographs: black velvet sheets, scale with inches, lights, camera,
and tripod.
When photographing history collections or historic artifacts use a table large enough to
photograph an entire feature. You may need to use upside down banker boxes to add vertical
space.
Historic collections are mainly photographed by feature. Within a feature photographs are taken
of sets, unique objects, sometimes group and category, attributes, and trademarks. All
trademarks are photographed unless they are duplicate marks.