Hi Steven - Our collections policy includes a section, just after the Scope and Statement of Purpose, which describes the contents of our collections. We have natural history collections and cultural collections, and several important sub-collections within each division, each of which are described briefly in this section. Hope this helps, Lindsey Richardson Collections Manager The Children's Museum 300 Congress Street Boston, MA 02210 Tel. 617 426 6500 x366 Fax 617 426 1944 www.bostonkids.org -----Original Message----- From: Steven Stewart [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Monday, December 22, 2003 2:18 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Artifact: meaning Our general museum is revamping our Collections Managament Policy. According to our mission, we collect, preserve and interpret items of a historical, artistic, and scientifc nature. I am from an Anthropological background and was taught to diffrentiate material items according to whether or not they are modified by humans. I.E. ARTIFACTS are objects that are altered by human activity and an ecofact is an item that is unaltered by human activity. Due to the fact that we collect plant and animal remains and rocks for the science part of our misison, I am thinking that in our Scope of Collections area that this distinction should be made. To those of you who are part of a general museum, what are your thoughts? Steven Stewart Customs House Museum and Cultural Cetner ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).