DC Historical Preservation and the Case of the Missing Artifacts
I made a recent inquiry dated Dec. 10, 2009 (the inquiries go back to, well, pretty much when I started the museum) about the DC artifacts at Tudor Place. Here is my latest request to see the artifacts and the responses:
—–Original Message—–
From: Doug Dupin [mailto:director@pmop.org]
Sent: Thursday, December 10, 2009 1:29 PM
To: Leslie Buhler; Trocolli, Ruth (OP); Maloney, David (OP)
Cc: Cheh, Mary (COUNCIL); Del Junco, Andrew (EOM)
Subject: DC’s Prehistoric Artifacts at Tudor House
Hello All,
I am requesting (again) to photograph the District of Columbia’s
prehistoric artifacts recovered in Rock Creek on DC property which are
stored at the Tudor House in Georgetown. As public property, these
artifacts are suppose to be available for research. If this request
is denied, I will file a FOIA request to make these artifacts
available. I will also pursue an IRS review of the non-profit status
of Tudor House as the practice of keeping public artifacts for private
use seems to contradict its stated Mission. The Tudor House website
also lists a collections manager and collections assistant, so lack of
staffing should not be a factor in denying access to this collection.
Another option is that the collection be moved to the Palisades Museum
of Prehistory. We can make the collection available to the interested
public as prescribed in law.
Sincerely yours,
Doug Dupin
Director, Palisades Museum of Prehistory
From: Maloney, David (OP)
Sent: Thursday, December 10, 2009 6:14 PM
To: Doug Dupin; Leslie Buhler; Trocolli, Ruth (OP)
Cc: Cheh, Mary (COUNCIL); Del Junco, Andrew (EOM)
Subject: RE: DC’s Prehistoric Artifacts at Tudor House
Dear Mr. Dupin,
Thank you for your inquiry about prehistoric archaeological collections at Tudor Place. It is my understanding that most of the prehistoric collection there is the property of the National Park Service. Any request for permission to access the NPS collection for research should be directed to Dr. Stephen Potter, the NPS regional archaeologist. The DC portion of the collection contains mostly historic artifacts, and as far as we are aware only very limited pre-historic material; the collection has also not been fully recorded and processed. We are currently engaged in concluding a contract to inventory this and the remaining DC archaeological holdings in order to establish the full extent and nature of our collections. If you can identify the types of materials you are interested in, this will help us in responding to your request.
Thanks,
David Maloney
David Maloney
State Historic Preservation Officer
D.C. Office of Planning
2000 14th Street NW, 4th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20009
(202) 442-8850 fax (202) 442-7638
NPS Cultural Resource Manager politely said that Mr. Maloney “misspoke”, and I soon received a corrected email from him:
“Mr. Dupin, My apologies for the confusion, but I have been informed by Dr. Stephen Potter that there are no NPS collections at Tudor Place. Please let us know if you have further interest in the DC holdings.
I immediately restated my original request but have yet to hear any response. Of course this type of stonewalling leads one to conjure various motivations for the HPO, none of which appear to be innocent.