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The second project
I will discuss, Steamtown National Historic Site, was
established as an addition to the National Park Service
system by act of Congress in October 1986. Located on
the site of a portion of the Delaware, Lackawanna and
Western Railroad yard in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the site’s
authorizing legislation calls for the interpretation of
steam-era railroading in a regional context.
The National Park Service has direct responsibility
for the development of visitor facilities and an interpretive
program at Steamtown and has served in a technical advisory
capacity to the Southwestern Pennsylvania Heritage Preservation
Commission. Various Park Service offices have contributed
technical studies, planning and design work and other
services for both of these efforts. The Applied Archeology
Center, which is attached to the National Park Service's
Denver Service Center, has provided archeological support.
Archeological services provided by the Applied Archeology
Center are primarily confined to Section 106 compliance.
However, the close connection between the Center and the
planners and architects at the Denver Service Center facilitates
the exchange of ideas and information across the disciplinary
void, and, as a result, there is enhanced opportunity
to incorporate archeological information into the design
process.
Between 1988 and the present, the Applied
Archeology Center has completed numerous projects at Steamtown
and throughout the nine counties encompassed by Path of
Progress. This work has included a full range of studies--
from informal site assessments to reconnaissance surveys
and data recovery excavations. Instead of attempting a
'laundry list' of this broad body of work, I propose instead
to focus on a small sub-set of the research results obtain
to date. What follows are admittedly personal musing on
some of the problems and prospects encountered when archeology
places itself at the service of the heritage industry.
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9.
Detail 
