The Blackwater Draw Museum (BWDM) only accepts donations and will not purchase artifacts or associated materials. The museum takes into consideration many aspects before accepting new materials including the Scope of Collections, our Mission, ability to house and care for the collections, and staff resources.

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If you have item(s) you wish to talk to us about, please contact the Collections Manager by phone or email before bringing the item into the museum. If possible, please include photographs of the item(s) and any information associated with its history that you are aware of. 

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The Blackwater Draw Museum does not condone the illegal collection of objects. The museum will request the appropriate documentation to demonstrate legal collecting or acquisition of the item(s). The museum also does not accept collections that contain human remains.

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Please be aware that upon donation, BWDM retains the right to discard certain elements of a collection (e.g. to add to our teaching collections) when necessary. Collections that contain many duplicates of items are often subject to this pre-accession discard process.

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BWDM does not provide valuations on artifacts. Archaeologists are ethically bound to Principles developed by both the Society for American Archaeology and the Register for Professional Archaeologists, among others.  Staff members are happy to look at your collections and give you honest opinions concerning age or potential cultural affiliation, but will never give dollar valuations. We believe the true value in collections is the ability to contribute our knowledge about past peoples and ourselves as humans in a global society.

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Thank you for your interest in the BWDM collections!