[MSN] A rare collection of American Indian artifacts finds its way to Salisbury.

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Relics of the past
A rare collection of American Indian artifacts finds its way to Salisbury
By Brice Stump 
Staff Writer 


Photos:
http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070106/LIFESTYLE/701
060320/1024

SALISBURY -- The late Perry Flegel's rare collection of Nanticoke Indian
artifacts from Dorchester County has been robbed, neglected and forgotten.
Now a new day has dawned for what many consider the most valuable collection
of its kind on Delmarva.

Packed in wooden boxes, envelopes and plastic bags, thousands of pottery
shards more than a 1,000 year-old, arrowheads, bone working tools, ax heads
and gorgets --stone jewelry -- were recently brought to the Edward H. Nabb
Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture at Salisbury University.
   
When the Dorchester Heritage Museum collection at Horn Point near Cambridge,
was dispersed to area museums upon the death of its curator, Dale Price,
getting the Flegel artifacts was a priority for David Owens, then director
of the Vienna Heritage Museum. 

The material was collected, excavated and restored by Flegel, a long-time
Dorchester County educator and amateur archaeologist whose hobby brought
about the first major collection of its kind on Delmarva. Recovered from
fields and sites throughout the county, the centuries old artifacts had a
long and troublesome history, Owens said, and he wanted to make sure the
material stayed in the county and would finally be in a a safe home. He
jumped at the opportunity to get what remained of the collection -- major
pieces had been stolen stayed in the county and would finally be in a a safe
home. He jumped at the opportunity to get what remained of the collection --
major pieces had been stolen during a robbery at the Horn Point museum. Some
of the artifacts were glued to a display board with epoxy which damaged
their surface. The provenance of some items -- how and where they were found
-- was also lost.

Owens, along with current museum director Tom Bradshaw; Bill Wilson,
chairman of the Pemberton Hall Foundation; archaeologist Ed Otter and
collector Terry Crannell, inventoried and moved the artifacts donated by
Mrs. Dale Price to the Vienna Heritage Museum in late August of last year.

Of special interest are several large and small baked or fired clay cooking
pots bearing imprinted designs. Flegel had reconstructed them from pieces
found during excavations decades ago. Of the 24 "cache blades" -- large
spear-type blades partially finished, only 8 remained. These foot-long
blades were found buried together in a field, an exceptionally rare
discovery to find that many and that size, according to Otter, as they were
trade goods brought to the area as blanks from lower Pennsylvania.

Owens feared that the collection could once again be stolen if housed at the
town's small museum. Anxious that it stay in the county, but concerned it
was at risk, Owens offered the collection through Wilson to the Nabb Center
on loan, where it could be catalogued, studied and protected. Eventually it
may be loaned again to the Dorchester County Historical Society and returned
to the Vienna Museum.

In the meantime, said Rebecca Miller, director of the center, it will be
welcomed as a major display. It is also now insured, thanks to a gratis
appraisal by Steve Blumenauer, which enabled the center to properly care for
and display the collection, Miller said.

"This is part of our Eastern Shore heritage, integral to our understanding
of the past and priceless. We'd love to have it permanently, but in the
meantime we are helping the Vienna Heritage Museum preserve it," Miller
said. "We are working in the spirit of collaboration and doing our part to
make sure it stays on the Eastern Shore."

Wilson, who was once a high school student taught by Flegel, said it's
unfortunate that a major part of the original collection was stolen. "The
rest of his martial is the basis for the Nanticoke Indian Museum collection
in Oak Orchard," Wilson said. "He was very scholarly in his collecting and
excavation. This is a comprehensive collection important for its depth and
breadth. How many other thousand year-old pots from the American Indians are
around? This is really priceless, rare stuff, material from the beginning of
archaeology on the Shore.

"I would encourage anyone who has a collection to make arrangement for its
future now, while the owner is able to help identify and provide the history
behind their collections, otherwise who knows where it will end up and its
historical and archaeological value lost," Wilson said.

Flegel's daughter , Peggy Bradley of Cambridge, is delighted her father's
work and collection is being appreciated. "I know he would be very honored
by what has just happened. I am glad something constructive is coming out of
all his efforts."

Artifacts from the Flegel collection are now on display at the Nabb Center
for the next several months.

bstump at dmg.gannett.com 410-845-4653