Research Laboratories of Archaeology


Douglas L. Rights Collection  -  Digital Records Archive

This is a digital archive of documents associated with the Douglas L. Rights Collection at the Research Laboratories of Archaeology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Douglas L. Rights Collection consists of over 42,000 Native American artifacts (RLA accession no. 2442) that were acquired by Reverend Rights between about 1915 and 1950. Most of the artifacts are from archaeological sites located near Winston-Salem and in the western Piedmont of North Carolina.

Additional artifacts from Reverend Rights' collection are curated by the Museum of Anthropology at Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sector Key - This is a typed key of all the sector (i.e., site or collection area) codes used by Reverend Rights to identify artifact proveniences.

Indian Relics Ledger - This is a 8-1/2" by 14" ledger that contains information about site (or sector) locations and enumerations of collected artifacts. It is essentially an accounting of numbers of artifacts collected from each sector.

Indian Relics Record - This is a 3-1/2" by 8-1/2" ledger that contains information about sites, collectors, and collected artifacts. It provides details surrounding the acquisition of specific artifacts and is keyed to the contents of the Indian Relics Card File (see below).

Indian Relics Card File - This is a file of 4" by 6" cards, stored in a metal case, that contains information on sites or collection areas (called Sectors)and specific artifacts acquired by Reverend Rights. Most of the artifact cards also have a detailed drawing of the artifact on the back.

  • Sectors
  • Axes
  • Beads
  • Celts
  • Metal Objects
  • Ornaments
  • Pipes
  • Pottery
  • Pottery-Stone Vessels
  • Shell Objects
    • Artifact Labels - These are tags and labels, mostly written by Reverend Rights, that were placed in individual artifact boxes and which provide provenience information about those artifacts.

    Provenience Cards - These are 6" by 8" index cards that were created by Joffre L. Coe in order to organize the collection by proveniences.

    RLA Artifact Catalog - This is a catalog of archaeological specimens in the Douglas L. Rights Collection at the Research Laboratories of Archaeology.

    This archive was created by Cliff Beasley and R. P. Stephen Davis, Jr. on June 3, 1999.