Archaeological Collecting at the Museum of Northern Arizona: From Past to Present

Abstract

The Museum of Northern Arizona (MNA) is a private institution yet an estimated 89 percent of its archaeological holdings are not owned by the museum. The story of how MNA acquired these collections is rooted in its founding in 1928 by a group of local citizens under the leadership of Dr. Harold S. and Mary-Russell Ferrell Colton and collaboration with J.C. Clarke, an amateur archaeologist and custodian of Wupatki National Monument. Dr. Colton encouraged local collectors to donate their prehistoric collections to MNA, but also conducted a systematic archaeological survey beginning in 1916 to document sites, often on federal land, in northern Arizona. There have been many policy changes by MNA since earlier days with the passage of laws that affirm federal ownership and Native American claims to archaeological resources from their lands. MNA also updated its policy and protocol for accepting archaeological materials from private entities and developed Native American partnerships for rehoming certain types of artifacts.