2011 Back-a-Box Fall Appeal

Sponsor a permanent curation box from the Albert Porter collection!

Crow Canyon is making preparations this fall to curate
the artifacts and documents from our excavations at Albert Porter Pueblo. We've completed the database that will guide future researchers, are finalizing the labeling and packaging of the artifacts, and are writing the report that will disseminate our findings.

Your contribution will be matched by the Sally D. Monk Curation Fund!

What Needs to be Done?

The collection, including 350–375 boxes of artifacts, maps, photographs, field notes, drawings, and lab records, needs to be curated at the Anasazi Heritage Center in nearby Dolores, Colorado. Crow Canyon is extremely fortunate to have a curation facility so close, because it ensures that the collection will remain accessible to our own staff as well as to other researchers.

Why is Albert Porter Pueblo Important?

Albert Porter is the ancestral Pueblo Indian site where Crow Canyon conducted excavations from 2001 through 2004. The reasons why the artifact collection from Porter is significant are twofold. First, this collection represents at least three different periods of occupation—Pueblo I, Pueblo II, and Pueblo III (A.D. 750–1300)—and includes material from one of the best documented Pueblo II (A.D. 900–1150) great houses in the northern San Juan region. Second, materials from Albert Porter Pueblo are significant because the village served as the community center for the larger Woods Canyon community for more than 200 years. Project director Susan Ryan notes, "The information generated from this excavation project will greatly enhance our understanding of the development of the Woods Canyon community, the nature and extent of Chacoan influence in the region, and our understanding of ancestral Pueblo social structure during the Chaco-to-post-Chaco transition (A.D. 1130–1180); the latter is generally lacking in the current literature." Read more about the Albert Porter Pueblo project.

Why is Curation Important?

As in all scientific endeavors, advances in archaeology depend on cumulative knowledge developed through long-term research. Curating the artifacts and records from Albert Porter Pueblo will ensure that—for years to come—researchers, educators, and American Indian scholars will be able to tap this important collection for new insights into Pueblo history and culture.

Here's How You Can Help!

The estimated cost of permanent curation of the Albert Porter collection, based on a charge of $500 per cubic foot, is approximately $82,000. We need your help to defray this expense. With your support, we can ensure that this collection remains useful beyond our lifetimes.

Sponsor a Box—or Many Boxes!

Thanks to the generous response to our Back-a-Box appeal in 2008, 149 boxes of artifacts were sponsored. There are many more boxes waiting to carry a label that recognizes its sponsor. We invite you to sponsor one box or many in your name or in honor of another, for example, a respected researcher or scholar.

$100 sponsors ONE box
$250 sponsors THREE boxes
$500 sponsors SIX boxes
$750 sponsors NINE boxes
$1,000 sponsors TWELVE boxes

If you are a current member, this contribution is in addition to your membership support. If you are not a current member, this contribution entitles you to a one-year membership at the level of your Back-a-Box sponsorship.

Donate Now!

You can donate online now (select 2011 Back-a-Box: Sally D. Monk Curation Fund), or call Bobbie at 800.422.8975, ext. 141, to donate. If you donate online, Bobbie will send you a form to collect the name(s) you want on your box(es).

Thank you for being a partner in Crow Canyon's research. As a box sponsor, your name or message will be preserved in perpetuity!