Collection Management
Dovetail Cultural Resource Group, a Mead & Hunt Company (Dovetail), offers collection management services to assist our clients with all lab-related needs. Dovetail’s full-service lab has vast experience assisting agencies, ranging from localities to branches of the federal government, to process and prepare collections for final curation. With an in-depth understanding of the collection management field and long-standing, robust relationships with numerous State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs), Dovetail consistently delivers lab-based projects on schedule, within or below budget, while also meeting or surpassing client standards. Our significant collection management knowledge and our collaborative approach with our clients leads to the acceptance of collections by state facilities upon initial submittal.
One of Dovetail’s specialties is acquiring large collections from excavations conducted by other firms. We administer the transfer of the materials from various repositories to our laboratory and fully process the assemblage to meet all required curation goals. This includes washing, cataloging, detailed analysis, photographic documentation of artifacts, direct labeling, finalization of all associated documents, and coordination with the chief curator and their staff.
We have successfully curated collections with the following repositories, among others:
- Northeast Region Archeology Program, National Park Service
- Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, National Park Service
- Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs
- Virginia Department of Historic Resources
- North Carolina (Office of State Archaeological Research Center)
- Washington, D.C. State Historic Preservation Office
- Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory
- Fairfax County, Virginia
- Facilities of the Virginia Army National Guard
- Numerous local repositories
