A Conflicted Legacy: Paul Sidney Martin as Museum Archaeologist, 1925-38

Abstract

Paul Sidney Martin excavated archaeological sites in southwestern Colorado for the State Historical Society of Colorado and the Field Museum of Natural History between 1927 and 1938, although he began working for museums in 1925. His work in three realms-research, exhibition and outreach, and collections-helped redefine the role of the museum anthropologist at a time when archaeological research, particularly that based in museums, was in transition away from the search for exhibition-quality objects and toward research-driven expeditions. With data gleaned from relevant archives, in this article I present previously unpublished details of Martin's work to suggest that Martin leaves behind a conflicted legacy from an important era in the development of North American archaeology. ©2010 by the American Anthropological Association.