Sierra DeVanie is an alum of the CHRM program, having received her master's degree in 2021. Her thesis is titled What’s in the Basement? A Thesis on Florida Curation. Thesis Abstract: The curation crisis is an ongoing problem with the lack of space and resources to properly curate collections throughout the country. There are many papers and research studies about the curation crisis: how to solve it and how to keep more from piling up. I will review these and their ideas for solving the problem and how they could be put towards Florida’s collection problem. Florida has a curation facility for artifacts collected on state land. However, if the artifacts are collected on private land and the landowners do not want the artifacts they remain with the CRM firm that collected them. Two surveys will be undertaken for this thesis to ascertain the public and professional opinions on curation, the purpose of curating, and if the collections recovered from archaeological investigations are worth the cost to curate them in perpetuity.
Following below is an archived profile.
Sierra is a Cultural and Heritage Resource Management student from Florida. She attended the University of Florida for her undergrad in Anthropology. Sierra completed two field schools during her time at UF. One in Horseshoe beach, Florida on a Weedon Island site, and the second in Ethiopia, where she learned about using a total station and handheld and working with archaeologists from other cultures. Besides prehistoric archaeology, Sierra is also interested in museum studies. She volunteered for over two years at the Florida Museum of Natural History, working under the collections manager. She also volunteered at the Silver River Museum in Ocala, giving tours to school kids and working on exhibits. Sierra currently works for SouthArc (Commonwealth's recently acquired Florida office) as a field tech, crew chief, report writer, and cataloger. Through the CHRM program at the University of Maryland, Sierra hopes to gain more knowledge about protecting our cultural resources and how to work and be successful in CRM. Outside of school and archaeology, Sierra enjoys reading for fun, kayaking, swimming, fishing, and arts and crafts.
