Archival pasts and futures in paleopathology

This article reviews the role of archival data in past studies and considers their role in the discipline's future.

Partial skeletal remains of a woman from the Huntington Anatomical Collection (1893-1921) at the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) in Washington, DC; collections records and archives from the National Anthropological Archives (NAA) at NMNH; death and almshouse records from the New York City Municipal Archives.

Skeletal remains were macroscopically observed. Death and almshouse records were transcribed.

The observed shoulder dislocation is analyzed alongside archival texts and is interpreted in relation to gender, industrial labor, trans-Atlantic immigration, and health care.

Integrating skeletal and archival data results in greater contextualization of skeletal pathology, recentering personhood. Incorporating archival datasets raises important questions related to access and restriction. Greater collaboration between archivists, bioarchaeologists, osteologists, and descendant communities or communities of care will be necessary to navigate these emerging questions.

The reinterpretation of the shoulder injury through archival texts offers an example of paleopathological analysis informed by social and humanist bioarchaeology. The use of archives raises important questions related to stewardship and care of both human remains and archives related to human remains.

Not all paleopathological cases have associated archival documents. The case presented here does not demonstrate how to integrate archival data with population-level skeletal data. FURTHER RESEARCH: Archival datasets will play a crucial role in the future of paleopathology; however, methodological, institutional, and ethical concerns that they raise will require collaborations between paleopathologists and archivists.