36 CFR 79.18 – Administrative record of disposition
(a) After the Federal Agency Official has made a determination of disposition, he or she must document the determination and retain the administrative record as part of the associated records as defined in § 79.4(a)(2), which must include:
Terms Used In 36 CFR 79.18
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. Source: OCC
(1) The professional evaluation of the material remains conducted under §§ 79.12(e) and 79.15(b).
(2) The report of the collections advisory committee provided under § 79.15(e)(5).
(3) Notifications of the proposed disposition under § 79.15(h); consent of Indian individuals or tribes, if applicable, under § 79.13(a)(2); and comments received from the parties notified under § 79.15(h).
(4) Objections received by the Departmental Consulting Archeologist, the non-binding recommendation of the Departmental Consulting Archeologist, and the decision on the objection and any amendments made to the determination of disposition, if applicable, under § 79.16.
(5) The disposition action with specific information, including a description and evaluation of objects; the method of disposition and the reason for the method chosen; names and titles of persons initiating and approving the disposition; date of disposition; relevant accession and catalog numbers; evidence of the receipt for the return, transfer, or conveyance of the material remains by the recipient tribe, agency, repository, or institution, including the title to the received material remains, as appropriate; photographic documentation, as appropriate; and the name and location of the recipient institution or entity, as appropriate.
(6) A detailed inventory of the representative sample of material remains retained, when the larger proportion is disposed of because it is overly redundant and not useful for research.
(7) Other activities and decisions pertaining to the disposition of the material remains, such as conditions of use after the disposition is completed, as appropriate.
(b) The administrative record must be made available to the public upon request, unless the information or a portion of it must be withheld under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. § 552) or the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (16 U.S.C. § 470hh). The latter restricts the government’s ability to make sensitive information, such as archeological site location data, available to the public.
(c) After disposition, the accession and catalog records must be reviewed and amended through a procedure established by the Federal agency. The amendments must identify the material remains that were deaccessioned and disposed of, the date of disposition, and the manner in which they were disposed. The documentation prepared under § 79.15, § 79.16, and paragraph (a) of this section must be retained in accordance with Federal agency policy.