5th July 2011, 08:49 PM
Regional hubs may be a lot cheaper than keeping boxes in museums. Having been made redundant as an archaeologist I've managed to find work as an archivist with part of the NHS doing medical research. This is a highly regulated business and vast amounts of paperwork have to be kept for long periods of time. I work in a brand new archive facility which houses the newer stuff but older boxes go to a very large storage facility in the midlands. They are kept in temperature controlled, climatically perfect (for paper) conditions. I think they use old aircraft hangars. The charges are very reasonable because they make a few pence a year on each box but have thousands of boxes. They also charge to return boxes to be accessed by the owners. It all runs very well. The facilities are regularly audited by the industry regulators. I can imagine something similar for archaeological archives could be achieved if there is a will to do it amonst the museums and major archaeological contractors. The museums would free up space, as would the contractors, and as RedEarth says, it would be easier to research regional finds if they were in one place rather than have to go to lots of museums. I think it's a great idea. 