CAR’s records and collections are available to qualified individuals for education and research purposes.

For-profit professionals will be charged a fee of $40.00 per hour to cover the time for CAR’s staff to locate, pull, and reshelf collections, to inventory and prepare collections for a loan, and/or to locate, copy, and/or scan records. No fee will be assessed to students, avocationals, researchers affiliated with UTSA, other Universities, or researchers affiliated with non-profits.

The costs for curation services are dependent upon several factors including:

  1. repackaging by the CAR due to inadequate or improper packaging of collections;
  2. the amount of storage space required;
  3. the hourly inventory reconciliation fee assessed for all state and federal held-in-trust collections submitted to CAR;
  4. the hourly digital inventory creation fee assessed to convert a paper copy inventory into an electronic file (if applicable);
  5. the hourly corrections fee assessed to correct curation deficiencies (if applicable); and
  6. charges for special packaging or care (e.g., ethafoam, microfoam, etc.).

Submitting archaeologists will be informed if the collection or records do not meet CAR’s curation standards. Arrangements can be made for the materials to be returned at the submitter’s expense or CAR curatorial staff can correct the deficiencies at a cost of $40/hour plus the cost of supplies. If the submitting archaeologist chooses to have CAR staff complete the corrections, every effort will be made to present the submitting archaeologist with progress reports as to the state of the project and the correction costs to date.

Any special needs or factors that contribute to the condition of the collection and how it has been packaged should be discussed in advance so that proper care can be anticipated or arranged. CAR has limited capabilities for the advanced conservation of materials and may not be able to handle certain needs. CAR curatorial staff can help in estimating space needs or special handling if assistance is required.

Archival-quality, acid-free boxes are provided by CAR. Artifact collections are stored in locking metal cabinets in 16” x 11” x 6” boxes. Special Collections (human skeletal material and associated burial artifacts) are stored in 20"x16"x5" boxes. Records, prints, negatives, slides, and any associated database or software are stored in standard legal size (24"x15"x10.5") metal filing cabinets. Maps are stored in drawers in standard metal map cabinets. CDs and DVDs with the digital format of the records are stored in specialized cabinets.

All records (including original field forms) should be on acid-free paper before they arrive at CAR to be curated. It is understood that agencies and individuals are expected to provide their own archival acid-free folders and archival plastic photo/slide/negative/diskette preservers.

The curation invoice will include the costs of shelving, drawer, and media storage space, labor to correct deficiencies, cost of supplies used, and an inventory fee for all held-in-trust collections.

Artifact Collection Charges Per Project
1/6 Shelf Minimum 1 Curation Box $325.00
1/3 Shelf 2 Curation Boxes $650.00
2/3 Shelf 4 Curation Boxes $1300.00
1 Shelf 6 Curation Boxes $1950.00
Records Charges Per Project
3 inch Minimum 1-3 Linear Inches $210.00
1/4 Drawer 6 Linear Inches $420.00
1/2 Drawer 12 Linear Inches $840.00
3/4 Drawer 18 Linear Inches $1260.00
1 Drawer 24 Linear Inches $1680.00
Special Collections Per Project
1/4 Shelf Minimum 1 Curation Box $600.00
1/2 Shelf 2 Curation Boxes $1200.00
3/4 Shelf 3 Curation Boxes $1800.00
1 Shelf 4 Curation Boxes $2400.00

Media Storage: $25 per CD
Maps and Larger Formatte Documents: $15.00 per map or document
Inventory Reconciliation Fee: $50/hour, with a minimum fee of $50. It takes approximately 1 hour to reconcile 50 artifact bags to 50 specimen inventory/catalog lines, therefore $50 is charged for 50 inventory line items, $100 for 100 items, etc.
Digital Inventory Creation Fee (if not included with submission): $40/hour
Special Handling/Corrections Fee: $40/hour

Deaccession Fee: Before deaccessioning a collection to the legal owner, CAR staff has to inventory all items in the collection. The time spent completing the inventory and packaging the collection for transfer will be charged at $400/box and $75/linear inch of records.

Annual Permit Fee: An Annual Permit is processed and billed as one accession (e.g., $180 for 3 inches of records). Because Annual Permits consist of multiple projects, they require additional staff time to process the records and update CAR’s collection database. An Annual Permit fee of $10 per each separate project within the permit will be charged in addition to the record/artifact accession fee to cover the additional time requirement.

NOTE: The acceptance of the collections and records is contingent upon the approval of the CAR curatorial staff.