[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 36, Volume 1]
[Revised as of July 1, 2008]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 36CFR79.4]

[Page 440-442]
 
              TITLE 36--PARKS, FORESTS, AND PUBLIC PROPERTY
 
      CHAPTER I--NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
 
PART 79_CURATION OF FEDERALLY-OWNED AND ADMINISTERED ARCHAEOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 79.4  Definitions.

    As used for purposes of this part:
    (a) Collection means material remains that are excavated or removed 
during a survey, excavation or other study of a prehistoric or historic 
resource, and associated records that are prepared or assembled in 
connection with the survey, excavation or other study.
    (1) Material remains means artifacts, objects, specimens and other 
physical evidence that are excavated or removed in connection with 
efforts to locate, evaluate, document, study, preserve or recover a 
prehistoric or historic resource. Classes of material remains (and 
illustrative examples) that may be in a collection include, but are not 
limited to:
    (i) Components of structures and features (such as houses, mills, 
piers, fortifications, raceways, earthworks and mounds);
    (ii) Intact or fragmentary artifacts of human manufacture (such as 
tools, weapons, pottery, basketry and textiles);
    (iii) Intact or fragmentary natural objects used by humans (such as 
rock crystals, feathers and pigments);
    (iv) By-products, waste products or debris resulting from the 
manufacture or use of man-made or natural materials (such as slag, 
dumps, cores and debitage);
    (v) Organic material (such as vegetable and animal remains, and 
coprolites);
    (vi) Human remains (such as bone, teeth, mummified flesh, burials 
and cremations);
    (vii) Components of petroglyphs, pictographs, intaglios or other 
works of artistic or symbolic representation;
    (viii) Components of shipwrecks (such as pieces of the ship's hull, 
rigging, armaments, apparel, tackle, contents and cargo);
    (ix) Environmental and chronometric specimens (such as pollen, 
seeds, wood, shell, bone, charcoal, tree core samples, soil, sediment 
cores, obsidian, volcanic ash, and baked clay); and
    (x) Paleontological specimens that are found in direct physical 
relationship with a prehistoric or historic resource.
    (2) Associated records means original records (or copies thereof) 
that are prepared, assembled and document efforts to locate, evaluate, 
record, study, preserve or recover a prehistoric or historic resource. 
Some records such as field notes, artifact inventories and oral 
histories may be originals that are prepared as a result of the field 
work, analysis and report preparation. Other records such as deeds, 
survey plats, historical maps and diaries may be copies of original 
public or archival documents that are assembled and studied as a result 
of historical research. Classes of associated records (and illustrative 
examples) that may be in a collection include, but are not limited to:
    (i) Records relating to the identification, evaluation, 
documentation, study, preservation or recovery of a resource (such as 
site forms, field notes, drawings, maps, photographs, slides, negatives, 
films, video and audio cassette tapes, oral histories, artifact 
inventories, laboratory reports, computer cards and tapes, computer 
disks and diskettes, printouts of computerized data, manuscripts, 
reports, and accession, catalog and inventory records);
    (ii) Records relating to the identification of a resource using 
remote sensing methods and equipment (such as satellite and aerial 
photography and imagery, side scan sonar,

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magnetometers, subbottom profilers, radar and fathometers);
    (iii) Public records essential to understanding the resource (such 
as deeds, survey plats, military and census records, birth, marriage and 
death certificates, immigration and naturalization papers, tax forms and 
reports);
    (iv) Archival records essential to understanding the resource (such 
as historical maps, drawings and photographs, manuscripts, architectural 
and landscape plans, correspondence, diaries, ledgers, catalogs and 
receipts); and
    (v) Administrative records relating to the survey, excavation or 
other study of the resource (such as scopes of work, requests for 
proposals, research proposals, contracts, antiquities permits, reports, 
documents relating to compliance with section 106 of the National 
Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470f), and National Register of 
Historic Places nomination and determination of eligibility forms).
    (b) Curatorial services. Providing curatorial services means 
managing and preserving a collection according to professional museum 
and archival practices, including, but not limited to:
    (1) Inventorying, accessioning, labeling and cataloging a 
collection;
    (2) Identifying, evaluating and documenting a collection;
    (3) Storing and maintaining a collection using appropriate methods 
and containers, and under appropriate environmental conditions and 
physically secure controls;
    (4) Periodically inspecting a collection and taking such actions as 
may be necessary to preserve it;
    (5) Providing access and facilities to study a collection; and
    (6) Handling, cleaning, stabilizing and conserving a collection in 
such a manner to preserve it.
    (c) Federal Agency Official means any officer, employee or agent 
officially representing the secretary of the department or the head of 
any other agency or instrumentality of the United States having primary 
management authority over a collection that is subject to this part.
    (d) Indian lands has the same meaning as in Sec. -.3(e) of uniform 
regulations 43 CFR part 7, 36 CFR part 296, 18 CFR part 1312, and 32 CFR 
part 229.
    (e) Indian tribe has the same meaning as in Sec. -.3(f) of uniform 
regulations 43 CFR part 7, 36 CFR part 296, 18 CFR part 1312, and 32 CFR 
part 229.
    (f) Personal property has the same meaning as in 41 CFR 100-43.001-
14. Collections, equipment (e.g., a specimen cabinet or exhibit case), 
materials and supplies are classes of personal property.
    (g) Public lands has the same meaning as in Sec. -.3(d) of uniform 
regulations 43 CFR part 7, 36 CFR part 296, 18 CFR part 1312, and 32 CFR 
part 229.
    (h) Qualified museum professional means a person who possesses 
knowledge, experience and demonstrable competence in museum methods and 
techniques appropriate to the nature and content of the collection under 
the person's management and care, and commensurate with the person's 
duties and responsibilities. Standards that may be used, as appropriate, 
for classifying positions and for evaluating a person's qualifications 
include, but are not limited to, the following:
    (1) The Office of Personnel Management's ``Position Classification 
Standards for Positions under the General Schedule Classification 
System'' (U.S. Government Printing Office, stock No. 906--028-00000-0 
(1981)) are used by Federal agencies to determine appropriate 
occupational series and grade levels for positions in the Federal 
service. Occupational series most commonly associated with museum work 
are the museum curator series (GS/GM-1015) and the museum technician and 
specialist series (GS/GM-1016). Other scientific and professional series 
that may have collateral museum duties include, but are not limited to, 
the archivist series (GS/GM-1420), the archeologist series (GS/GM-193), 
the anthropologist series (GS/GM-190), and the historian series (GS/GM-
170). In general, grades GS-9 and below are assistants and trainees 
while grades GS-11 and above are professionals at the full performance 
level. Grades GS-11 and above are determined according to the level of 
independent professional responsibility, degree of specialization and 
scholarship, and the nature, variety, complexity, type and scope of the 
work.

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    (2) The Office of Personnel Management's ``Qualification Standards 
for Positions under the General Schedule (Handbook X-118)'' (U.S. 
Government Printing Office, stock No. 906-030-00000-4 (1986)) establish 
educational, experience and training requirements for employment with 
the Federal Government under the various occupational series. A graduate 
degree in museum science or applicable subject matter, or equivalent 
training and experience, and three years of professional experience are 
required for museum positions at grades GS-11 and above.
    (3) The ``Secretary of the Interior's Standards and Guidelines for 
Archeology and Historic Preservation'' (48 FR 44716, Sept. 29, 1983) 
provide technical advice about archeological and historic preservation 
activities and methods for use by Federal, State and local Governments 
and others. One section presents qualification standards for a number of 
historic preservation professions. While no standards are presented for 
collections managers, museum curators or technicians, standards are 
presented for other professions (i.e., historians, archeologists, 
architectural historians, architects, and historic architects) that may 
have collateral museum duties.
    (4) Copies of the Office of Personnel Management's standards, 
including subscriptions for subsequent updates, may be purchased from 
the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, 
Washington, DC 20402. Copies may be inspected at the Office of Personnel 
Management's Library, 1900 E Street NW., Washington, DC, at any regional 
or area office of the Office of Personnel Management, at any Federal Job 
Information Center, and at any personnel office of any Federal agency. 
Copies of the ``Secretary of the Interior's Standards and Guidelines for 
Archeology and Historic Preservation'' are available at no charge from 
the Interagency Resources Division, National Park Service, P.O. Box 
37127, Washington, DC 20013-7127.
    (i) Religious remains means material remains that the Federal Agency 
Official has determined are of traditional religious or sacred 
importance to an Indian tribe or other group because of customary use in 
religious rituals or spiritual activities. The Federal Agency Official 
makes this determination in consultation with appropriate Indian tribes 
or other groups.
    (j) Repository means a facility such as a museum, archeological 
center, laboratory or storage facility managed by a university, college, 
museum, other educational or scientific institution, a Federal, State or 
local Government agency or Indian tribe that can provide professional, 
systematic and accountable curatorial services on a long-term basis.
    (k) Repository Official means any officer, employee or agent 
officially representing the repository that is providing curatorial 
services for a collection that is subject to this part.
    (l) Tribal Official means the chief executive officer or any 
officer, employee or agent officially representing the Indian tribe.

[55 FR 37630, Sept. 12, 1990; 55 FR 41639, Oct. 10, 1990]