ABSTRACT
The introduction of historical archaeological research at Old Sturbridge Village has satisfied needs and requirements at both levels. Most significantly, it fulfills the museum's mission by increasing the quality of the historical presentation to the public, it is observable. Historical archaeology also satisfied the desire on the part of the Museum Education Department to expand its curriculum in the area of material culture studies. For the department of interpretation, historical archaeology also addressed clear-felt needs on the part of the staff. Compatible with cross-disciplinary approaches in its execution and inter-departmental collaboration in its implementation, historical archaeology provides Old Sturbridge Village with a distinct advantage in its recovery of fragments of the historic central New England landscape. It is significant that these pieces of a past era are brought to life not in the academy though, but before the wider audience of the museum-visiting public, perhaps the most important and appropriate audience for the fruits of American historical archaeology.
