The Power of Collaborative Public Scholarship

Work conducted by the Colorado Coalfield War Archaeology Project and Ludlow Centennial Commemoration Commission offers a longitudinal example of the power of collaborative public scholarship. After defining collaborative public archaeology, the article discusses issues around identifying descendant communities and other stakeholders, building and maintaining relationships, and the political nature of public archaeology and stewardship. While the collaborative experiences described here were unique, the lessons are widely applicable. The goal in sharing these lessons is to illustrate the importance of maintaining relationships with descendant communities after the completion of a project and exemplify the wide impact of well-designed collaborative public archaeology.