Museum collections come in many forms, all with characteristics that make them worthy of long-term preservation and management. Typically, the Department of the Interior identifies museum objects as museum property due to their status as Federal property.
Museum collections held by Reclamation consists primarily of archaeological objects and their associated records, but also includes natural history specimens, historic objects, documents, art, photographs, and ethnographic items. Reclamation has slightly over 10 million museum objects and documents. See collection overview for more details of the types of items held within Reclamation's museum property collection.
The Museum Property program is a subset of Reclamation's larger Cultural Resources Management Program. The objectives of the Museum Property program are to identify, preserve, and interpret museum objects that are stored or exhibited at Reclamation repositories, non-Reclamation repositories, and administrative offices. The program manages such property for the public’s use and benefit. Reclamation's unique collection serves to illustrate important achievements of and challenges to water delivery in the 17 Western States and to document the history of Reclamation.
You may contact Thomas Lincoln, Federal Preservation Officer, 303-445-3311 or Myra Giesen, National Museum Property Coordinator, 785-843-0160 for more information about Reclamation's Museum Property.
