Research Access at the Battlefield

[Diane Merkel]

Here's part of a message from the Acting Superintendent of the Battlefield in case some of you were hoping to access the Battlefield collection:

On behalf of Superintendent Kate Hammond, we are pleased to announce the decision on the part of the National Park Service to take steps to better preserve and protect Little Bighorn Battlefield's priceless 149,000 piece museum and archival collection by temporarily relocating it to the National Park Service's Western Archeological and Conservation Center in Tucson, Arizona for immediate preservation and conservation purposes. As a result, the collection is temporarily closed for research access as we pack, move, unpack, and properly store the collection in its temporary home. The collection will reopen for research access at WACC in the summer 2012. The White Swan Library, which houses an extensive collection of books and periodicals, and includes copies of selected archival collections from the museum collection, will remain in its current location at Little Bighorn Battlefield and will remain open to researchers by advance appointment. Please contact Jerry Jasmer, [phone] or [e-mail] with at least 2 weeks advance notice for an onsite research appointment.

Researchers are encouraged to complete as much of their research as possible with resources available through other repositories while the collection is in transition.

Chief Historian John Doerner has retired.