ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY 

Bibliography of Cultural Resource Management (CRM) studies I completed in Massachusetts during the 1970s

Although the National Historic Preservation Act was passed in 1966, it was not until the early 1970s that federal agencies demonstrated much effort at compliance.  No agencies, except the National Park Service, even employed historic preservation personnel with specialties in standing structures or archaeological sites.  In 1973, when I was working in the archaeology lab at UMass-Amherst, someone on staff at the local Soil Conservation Office walked in and asked if anyone could do an EIS.  My query was, "What's that?"  His response was, "Well, I don't know.  We've just been told by Washington that we have to do them for a number of flood control projects that the agency is planning."  After further discussion, it was clear that what he wanted was a survey of various project areas to determine if any significant historic sites would be affected by their undertakings.  I volunteered that we could certainly do such a study, and thus began a career in cultural resource management.  For the next few years, I arranged contracts to do such work and hired fellow students to act as historical researchers or archaeological field and lab personnel to explore potential site areas in western and central Massachusetts.  This endeavor lasted until 1978 when I secured an appointment in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Vermont.  Here, I was expected to bring the Consulting Archaeology Program on line to assist the Vermont Agency of Transportation and other state and federal agencies in meeting their compliance responsibilities under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, following the guidelines establish in 36 CFR Part 800.