Comments about ‘Department of Interior lax in care of museum collections, report says’

This behavior by the government is disgraceful. Leave these citizen alone. Let the government concentrate their power to round up and deport illegal aliens, that will be of more benefit to Americans.

You can bet, all the artifacts siezed from SE Utah residents, will have 'disapeared' in a few years.

Scheme of things, this whole episode was "over-the-top" on the part of the federal government. The method of arrest was disgraceful and the feds will not care for the siezed artifacts. Lets enforce the law but use some common sense - these people were not the Medellin Drug Cartel.

Artifacts have been safely buried for thousands of years, we can't find them once they have been excavated, cataloged and stored.
Better to leave them in the ground unless we can guarantee that artifacts we store will be safe for thousands of years.

This is the old story of academia vs collectors. The government has put itself in the role of policing for the benifit of acedemia as a whole without the knowledge or the means to do so. Though I agree that artifacts SHOULD be studied for the benifit of archeology as a whole but with most museums having TONS of of non important artifacts, budget restraints, shouldn't some of these non important items be sold at auction instead of wasting away?

So who is taking and destroying "our heritage"? The govt is much worse that an individal with a shovel. However that type of conduct should not be allowed to occur.Certainly this type of govt. conduct should be delt with just as harshly!!

I have been trying to view NPS artifacts and DC Govt. collections in the Washington DC area for four years. Their refusal to show any artifacts suggests they may be concealing the situation found by the DOI's Inspector General. Either that, or they are treating "our" artifacts like their own personal collections. Is there a point to archeology (or preservation laws) if artifacts are essentially "lost" after they are found? -Doug Dupin, Palisades Museum of Prehistory

The govt may be negligent in their actions and treatment but the citizens may have violated law..there is a difference

The Smithsonian is the holocaust of lost information like no other. Their policy is, age it, deny it long enough and there is no way to verify, and if becomes wild and crazy. Oh the diffusion, disinformation, confusion, delusion and we've are still willing to endure. Remind you of anything?

The National Archives has serious problems too. Many of NARA's individual collections are effectively lost because they are not described or badly described. Moreover, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library has lot intellectual control over its vast collection of memborabilia. Apparently, some very valuable items are missing....Remember: These are the same folks who want to take care of YOUR health!

Not extremly shocking as the Museum of Peoples and Cultures at BYU has boxes and boxes stacked up in all the hallways. One could be more understanding with the backlogs if the Archaeologists were not as pompus and arrogant believing they are the only ones who are qualified to handle history. This story along with NAGPRA which returns artifacts to tribes with no cultural affiliation tells me the government are poor stewards of our history. Not shocking that the government has mucked up yet another public stewardship responsibility. We are so politically correct that the ancient history has given way from archaeological history to tribal oral history. I enjoy the history of the navajo and zuni but when I go to a museum to see the history of the ancient people of Utah I dont want to hear about the Navajos who migrated here in the 15th Century. You cant please all the people all of the time.

I am not really surprised at this revelation. I work in museums and unfortunately we all face these same problems just not on a different scale. Yes the government has a duty to physically care for artifacts related to our national heritage in their posession and to enforce the laws that do so as well. Now that the magtitude of this issue has been made public it is up to the people to do something about it. I don't blame the government for often pushing these issues to the back burner when there are more serious concerns such as education and health care to contend with. I suggest that one way to help resolve and prevent this issue would be to start a private endowment for providing funding to these repositories. Also partnering with local colleges that have museum or archeological programs would be a great source of free volunteers. If you are outraged about this issue don't let it drop, do something about it even if its just on your local level and at a non-government repository (as they have the same issue and can use some help as well).

Yes it is sad, a person can access very little knowledge of specific areas and the artifacts found, now it's said they box artifacts up and don't do anything with them. It's sounding like they find artifacts, box them up then run out and dig some more to be boxed and stored in the same manner, shameful. I wonder what most archeologists personal collections consist of, just a thought. The government need's to clean up it's act.