Collections

 

 

Archeology monitoring with Museum of Northern Arizona

NPS

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Rainbow Bridge National Monument Collections

The collections are part of a larger National Park Service collections program. NPS museums collect objects specific to the mission of the individual parks and interpret those collections in their original context. Their scope is wider than that of most public or private institutions, providing broad representation of the natural and cultural heritage of the United States. Park museums and collections are distinguished by a strong association with place. Our collections pertain specifically to the areas within Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Rainbow Bridge National Monument.

Most uses of collections are educational and may include:

• Research conducted by scientists,historians, archeologists, ethnographers and other specialists
• Publications
• Exhibits in NPS museums and visitor centers, as well as loans to non-NPS museums for special exhibitions
• Educational programs at the park, schools, or other public venues
• Media products such as documentaries (motion picture, television, and radio), web sites, web casts, and virtually any other new media format

 

For Glen Canyon

Our museum collections of over 900,000 items contribute directly to the understanding and interpretation of the park’s purposes, themes and resources.

Foundation Document

 

Cultural Collection

Archeology, Ethnology, History, Art

The cultural collection documents the use and settlement of the park units from the Paleoindian period (11,500 years ago) to the present. More than 2,600 archeological and historical sites have been documented. These sites, spanning a vast temporal and geographical range, have produced thousands of artifacts and spurred archeological research for over a century.

 

Archival display: Prehistoric pot, corn cobs

NPS

The archeological collection includes:

• Stone projectile points and tools
• Sandals
• Bone tools
• Large and small ceramic vessels
• Textiles
• Cradle boards
• Corn cobs and other food items
• Animal remains
• Soil, pollen and charcoal samples

 

Bullfrog Visitor Center exhibit

NPS

The historical archeological collection tells the story of exploration, ranching, mining, river running and ferry operations and includes materials dating to the 19^thand 20^th centuries. Lees Ferry Historic District and Lonely Dell Ranch Historic District provided the largest collection of historical archeological materials.

These sites tell the story of:

• Native American settlement and land use

• Early Spanish explorers (ca. 1776)

• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon) exploration and settlement

• Mineral exploration and extraction

• Ranching

• River running

• The Glen Canyon Dam project (the Bureau of Reclamation maintains an extensive Glen Canyon Dam collection)

 

Rug weaving demonstration at Carl Hayden Visitor Center, 1970s

NPS

This collection includes:

• Mining tools and equipment

• Household items

• Glass, porcelain, and ceramic sherds
• Ranching and homesteading tools and remnants
• Navajo rugs woven at the Carl Hayden Visitor Center during cultural demonstrations

 

Do not pick up artifacts or

Archeological Materials!

 

Leave surface artifacts where you find them, document their location, notify park staff at any visitor center or call 928-608-6200.

 

Native American Consultation Committee, 2018

NPS

The Native American ethnographic and historic collection includes objects and archives produced or used by associated Native American tribes that have a traditional, historical, cultural, or religious association with our park units. This collection illustrates the continuity, importance and ongoing nature of tribal relationships to the landscapes and resources, as well as the creative, artistic and cultural traditions of the associated tribes which include:

The Hopi Tribe

The Kaibab Paiute Tribe

The Navajo Nation

The Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah

The Pueblo of Zuni

The San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe

The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe

 

Rainbow Bridge Vibration Study

NPS

Natural History Collection

Biology, Geology, Paleontology

Purpose of the natural history collection:

• Support scientific research
• Resource management and education
• Provide baseline data of natural resources
• Document changes these resources are undergoing because of internal management actions and environmental fluctuation
• Preserve important or locally significant species collected in response to research
• Comply with resource management mandates
• Provide for the protection of important paleontological specimens

 

This collection includes:

An herbarium representing nearly every one of the 900 or so plants in our park units. Duplicates are loaned to the Deaver Herbarium, San Juan College Herbarium and S.L. Welch Herbarium.

 

Do not take fossils or rocks!

Leave them where you found them

 

Fossils and trackways found by visitors or staff should not be removed from their original location.

Notify park staff at any visitor center or call 928-608-6200 so a determination about preservation actions can be made.

 

Accession# GLCA-583, Catalog# GLCA 25205, Eubrontes Track

NPS

The paleontological collection includes approximately 50,000 items, most of which are loaned to several natural history museums including the Museum of Northern Arizona, the Museum of Natural History at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the Natural History Museum of Utah. In addition, the collection includes:

• Over 350 trackways ranging from the Late Permian to the Jurassic, representing the living behavior if only for a moment in ancient time of the animals that left them
• Nearly complete plesiosaur and therizinosaur fossils
• Thousands of smaller vertebrate and invertebrate fossils
• A large collection of Ice Age bones, dung, pollen and pack rat midden deposit samples

 

A small geological collection represents the layers of thick Navajo Sandstone near the Glen Canyon Dam. The collection also includes a number of sample rock, soil, and mineral specimens.

The Larval Fish Laboratory, Colorado State University, provides thousands of larval fish specimens for study from permitted research of Glen Canyon’s 17 non-native and eight native fish species.

 

Rainbow Bridge Register

NPS

Archival Collection

The Archival Collection documents administrative history and research conducted in the park units in order to inform future management decisions.

The archival collection contains more than 670,000 items including:

• Field records
• Reports
• Personal collections
• Photographs, slides
• Maps
• Movies and video recordings
• Oral histories
• Resource management records
• Building plans and specifications
• Scientific studies
• Electronic records
• Artwork donated from Artists-in-the-Park

Contact Information:

For research requests, please contact our Museum Technician by email with the subject "Research Request" or call 928-608-6280 and leave a message.