1980's WARC (Washington Archeological Research Center) was an experiment in communitarianism for Northwest Archaeology--and it did WARC (Work). This is Volume 8 of our News Bulletin, the WARC Thunderbird, with Issues 1-2, 1988. The WARC Thunderbird provided a platform for communications across the region and contains a wealth of information about this formative period of Archaeology in Washington State. The Washington Archaeological Research Center was established in 1972 at Washington State University as a contract clearinghouse, mainly for Federal and State funded archaeological field projects, with the goal of assigning field projects throughout the state through a Scientific Committee with archaeologists at the six four-year universities and colleges. The founder of this phase of WARC’s operations was Dr. Richard D. Daugherty, Director, and most field projects were coordinated by his Assistant Harvey Rice. In 1980 the WARC Administrative Board, the Graduate Deans at the six four-year Washington colleges, and the Scientific Committee, felt each institution should be allowed to take their own directions as archaeological field contract programs, and decided to keep the general framework of WARC intact, to coordinate and maintain, with the State Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation (OAHP), the State’s site records, contract/research reports library, and facilitate communications and coordination of general records-based research at the six WARC institution. Dr. Dale R. Croes was assigned Acting Director (a 1/2-time position) and he recruited Steven Hackenberger as his able Assistant Director. This revised structure continued to bring together the WARC Administrative Board, the Scientific Committee and the establishment of a broad Advisory Council representing private contract archaeologists; professional archaeologists from Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia, Canada; Native American Representatives; Federal/State agencies; and Archaeological/Historical Societies. In many ways it was an effort to work together, using our limited resources, to promote archaeological interests (especially digitizing, standardizing and updating our paper-based archaeological site forms)—a coordinating of our discipline, in a form of communitarianism, based on the idea that those involved in archaeology were essentially cooperative (“good”) people who wanted to work together for our common goals
