Current Laboratory Projects

Bureau of Reclamation Archiving Project Nears Completion
by Kelli Bacon

The Archeology Lab at the Nebraska State Historical Society (NSHS) is winding down a seven year long project to catalog and rehouse Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) archives and artifact collections that came from prehistoric and historic archeological sites throughout Nebraska. So far NSHS personnel have cataloged over 360,000 artifacts and 70,000 documents.

The project began with two years of grant funding received from Reclamation. During this grant phase, NSHS staff cataloged and rehoused collections excavated and documents generated by NSHS personnel. Most of these collections were gathered in the 1930s and 1940s as part of Reclamation's Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program which surveyed river corridors to determine areas of potential need for dams, reservoirs, and canals.

The second phase of the project was accomplished through a five year long cooperative agreement between NSHS and Reclamation. One part of the cooperative agreement was for NSHS personnel to catalog Reclamation archives and archeological collections that were moved from the University of Nebraska State Museum Division of Anthropology (UNSM) to the NSHS when the UNSM underwent budget cuts in 2003.

These collections were created by UNSM staff and contractors through the Smithsonian Institution River Basin Surveys and from dam and reservoir building projects throughout the state.

The second part of the cooperative agreement was for NSHS personnel to catalog archives and archeological collections that were created by archeologists contracting directly with Reclamation.

These archeologists were surveying and excavating as part of cultural resource management projects near Reclamation dams, reservoirs, and canals in order to fulfill the requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 compliance regulations.

These collections and archives will be available for researcher use by obtaining permission for access from Bill Chada, archeologist, Nebraska-Kansas Area Office, Bureau of Reclamation, PO Box 1607, Grand Island NE 68802, bchada@gp.usbr.gov, 308-389-5320.

Scheduling access to the collections and archives should be done by contacting Trisha Nelson, archeological collections manager, Nebraska State Historical Society, 1500 R St., PO Box 82554, Lincoln, NE 68501-2554
402-471-4760 or at trisha.nelson@nebraska.gov.

Read original news article as it appears in the Nebraska Museums Association newsletter, "The Phoenix" (pdf)