I just finished an internship with the Schroeder saddletree project in
Madison, Indiana and offered to post this request to MUSEUM-L for my
supervisor, John Staicer.
 
Does anyone have experience with recording artifact locations in a standing
structure along the same principles used in archaeology?  The difference, of
course, being that instead of excavating down through the earth you have to
walk into a room crammed with artifacts.  The Schroeder saddletree factory,
started in the 1870s, shut down in 1972 when the last Schroeder died.  Most of
the workbuildings were left "as is" with unfinished work still on some of the
machines or piled in corners in various stages of production.  During the life
of the factory, things were piled in unused corners because the Schroeders
saved just about everything, and then the factory closed it was left exposed
to the woodchucks, raccoons, and so forth until about three years ago.
 
Artifact removal has already been carried out in most of the rooms, but John
has been holding off on the woodworking shop where the saddletrees were made
because this space may be the only source of information about the Schroeders'
production process.  Removing objects from the room will be an archaeological
process except that instead of working from ground level and excavating down,
you have to walk into the room and figure out what was part of the room when
it was a worksite, what got tossed in unused corners for storage, what got
moved around by the rodents, etc.  There are piles of sawdust and unfinished
saddletrees on the floor, woodworking patterns hanging on the walls and from
the ceilings, stuff crammed EVERYWHERE.
 
How can John document where things came from as he takes it all out of the
building?  (He generally can only work with one or two people, because there
is not enough room on the site and he doesn't want to put more stress on the
floors which are already collapsing.)  He has already taken photos of much of
the existing layout but want to figure out a more systematic way to record
where things were.  This site will eventually be restored as a museum.
 
If anyone has any experience with this sort of situation or knows of any
references in the archaeological literature, please let me know!
 
Replies to Carolyn Brady (see address below)
 
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