Charles F. Walcott Archaeological Collection, circa 1960-1970

Item Information

Title:
Charles F. Walcott Archaeological Collection, circa 1960-1970
Description:
Items came stored in a small gift box. The box contained a small, curated collection of Native American archeological artifacts comprised of 11 separate envelopes and 2 boxes. Each envelope was numbered, each object within had a numerical label, and the short descriptive label cards inside the envelopes both had the same numeric value assigned to the outer envelope. In total, the items were divided into 13 groups designed to be a small exhibition that was put on display at the Observatory Hill Branch Library (now the Boudreau Branch). No documentation exists to provide evidence as to how most of the objects came into Dr. Walcott's possession, though he found a few of the items himself at Cambridge's Fresh Pond in the 1960s and 70s and labeled them as such.<br><br>The Charles F. Walcott Archaeological Collection was a gift from Dr. Charles F. Walcott to the Cambridge Public Library sometime in the late 1970s, early 1980s. Items include a variety of Native American tools and implements, mainly arrowheads but also scraping tools for wood, gun flint, quartz, a stone drill, bone, and felsite. Not much is known about the individual items other than what little accompanying information was included -- usually at most a single sentence. Some of the items are identified as having come from the American Southwest, South America, Georgia, and the Carolinas.<br><br>The only outlier to the Native American objects in the collection is a box containing two bullets and a mini ball from the Battle of Antietam.<br><br>Also accompanying the box is a wooden plaque from a painting of Dr. Walcott's father, Charles F. Walcott, Sr. A portrait was commissioned, however the location of said portrait is unknown.<br><br>For more information about this collection, please follow the link to the finding aid: <a href="https://public.archivesspace.dlconsulting.com/repositories/2/resources/4" target="_blank">https://public.archivesspace.dlconsulting.com/repositories/2/resources/4</a>.
Format:
Collections
Objects/Artifacts
Location:
Cambridge Public Library