Current through Reg. 49, No. 38; September 20, 2024
(a) Maintenance. The commission will do the
following:
(1) maintain collections recovered
by the archeology division for the period of time required for their
processing, analysis, and adequate reporting;
(2) maintain collections on loan to the
archeology division for the period of time required for their processing,
analysis, and adequate reporting and return or place such collections according
to the terms of the loan agreement entered into with the collection
owner;
(3) maintain on a temporary
basis, collections recovered by other organizations or individuals from
archeological sites in Texas that the archeology division agrees to accept for
placement in an appropriate curatorial facility;
(4) refer to curatorial facilities all other
requests from individuals, institutions, organizations, and agencies for
collections placement; and
(5)
maintain on a permanent basis only those collections falling within its
responsibilities, for which no permanent repository can be found, and/or for
comparative analysis.
(b) Curatorial facilities. In seeking
curatorial facilities for collections held in temporary custody, the archeology
division will observe the following procedures.
(1) All collections transferred by this
office to a curatorial facility will include copies of all pertinent site
records.
(2) Curatorial facilities
will be identified by this office according to the criteria of existing state
and federal standards for curation.
(3) For state held-in-trust collections,
placement will be in accordance with the requirements specified in Chapter 29
of this title (relating to Management and Care of Artifacts and
Collections).
(4) For collections
that do not meet the state held-in-trust criteria, preference will be given in
accordance with the following criteria:
(A)
curatorial facilities that are in the region from which the collections were
recovered;
(B) curatorial
facilities that maintain procedures for access to collections and site records
that prevent disclosure of information harmful to the resources
involved;
(C) curatorial facilities
that facilitate scientific, archeological research;
(D) curatorial facilities that observe state
and/or federal standards for curation; and
(E) repositories in the State of
Texas.
(5) Transfer of
collections to curatorial facilities will be made under the terms of a written
agreement between the facility and the commission. The agreement will include
an inventory of transferred items, and its terms will be guided by the
pertinent state or federal standards for curation. The agreement will provide
that, should a repository fail to maintain the integrity of collections
provided by the commission, or to protect them adequately, the repository will
notify the commission so that other arrangements can be made for the
collections.
(6) Pertinent data
concerning collections, related site records, and the sites of resources from
which the collections were made may be retained in the commission's inventory
of archeological resources, and no transfer agreement will be made that
prohibits the commission from retaining data and information.
(c) Human skeletal remains.
(1) This office will not publicly exhibit
human skeletal remains recovered from archeological sites, and it will
discourage the public exhibition of human skeletal remains recovered from
archeological sites by others.
(2)
Human skeletal remains and associated artifacts will be handled in a manner
that complies with applicable state and federal laws, rules and
regulations.
(d)
Artifact identification. This office will not assist in the identification of
unprovenienced artifacts.
(e)
Appraisals. This office will not appraise collections or artifacts for private
citizens, corporations, or organizations or retain an appraiser for or refer an
appraiser to the private citizen, corporation or organization. THC personnel
may evaluate state-associated collections for in-house purposes. Donors
requiring appraisals for income tax purposes must obtain an appraisal at their
own expense from an appraiser of their choice prior to donation. In-house
evaluation of state-associated collections or artifacts retained at the
commission's facilities for insurance purposes, traveling exhibits or
activities within the professional community are professional assessments and
not appraisals. In-house evaluations are the responsibility of the
agency.
