David A. Fredrickson Archaeological Collections Facility
The ASC’s Collection Facility is one of the largest such facilities in northern California. It contains more than 500 individual collections that are used for research and education. In 2004, we opened the new David A. Fredrickson Archaeological Collections Facility building. Although the building does not fully meet 36CFR79 standards (it has no climate control), it is alarmed, staffed, has a fire-suppression system, and is supported by an endowment of over $940,000 from curation fees. The facility consists of over 3,500 square feet of curation space and is currently accepting collections from sites in northern and central California.
Mission
The David A. Fredrickson Archaeological Collections Facility (ACF) at Sonoma State University houses and maintains Northern California prehistoric and historic-era archaeological collections and their supporting documentation as educational, scholarly, and heritage resources. At ACF collections are:
- maintained in perpetuity in a stable environment
- made available to students, scholars, and the general public for research and educational display, in accordance with ACF’s policies
- considered a resource for the future
For collection and curation information, please contact Sandra Massey.
2011–2012 Summary
The David A. Fredrickson Archaeological Collections Facility (ACF) issued 31 accession numbers during the past year for projects from Calaveras, Contra Costa, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, San Mateo, Solano and Tuolumne counties. A total of 17 collections were submitted for final curation from outside agencies.
Public service offerings by the ACF in the past year included hosting several school group tours of the facility as part of the ASC’s Interpretive Outreach Services (IOS). The ACF also provided materials and artifacts for a number of IOS presentations or display either here at Sonoma State University or at off-campus locations.
Collections housed at the ASC are available for study or loan to qualified individuals and groups. Two groups and one individual visited ACF this year; in addition a total of four loans were granted for research and display.
The ACF had two student interns this year. In the spring term, Yesenia Chavez was assigned several collections to inventory. The collections were physically compared to the catalog on record, corrections made and entered into a spreadsheet, and the collections brought up to current curation standards. In this way, the student gains a preliminary knowledge of artifacts as well as a better understanding of collections management. The second intern, Diego Rocha, received a paid internship from the Bureau of Land Management to inventory their collections.
An additional 27 collections were inventoried by the Erica Gibson, ACF Collections Manager.