Under-Representation in Contemporary Archaeology
many forms: it can relate to gender and ethnic diversity, but it can also refer to different types of archaeology, such as academic versus contract, general versus specialist, or to types of research theme, such as ‘big issues’ versus more detailed studies. Issues of under-representation, in various guises, have taxed me through my career in archaeology. That career began as a female, prehistoric ceramics specialist working in UK Contract Archaeology, followed by various university teaching and/or research posts. With a knowledge of both commercial and academic archaeological employment contexts and traditions of enquiry, it seems to me that UK frameworks of archaeological employment, study and research remain retrograde in failing to evenly support the working lives of all archaeologists in equal ways. The spectrums of expertise and research frameworks that archaeology can potentially encompass are not all equally facilitated. Quite simply some approaches, styles of archaeology and skills tend to be more highly valued than others. Dominant modes of research and interpretative frameworks, be they choices of individuals, or relating to projects or institutional traditions, have some role in influencing what is traditionally supported by academic, grant-giving and professional structures. It is important to assess the extent to which such structures have differentially privileged specific forms of research and career trajectories. There has been a tendency to create binary oppositions such as between what might be characterised as focused, ‘big issue’ research that speedily accretes a clear trajectory and perhaps a career of diverse, albeit possibly complimentary pathways, which moves at a more patchy pace. Differing approaches should not be in competition with each other. Questioning prevailing assumptions and maintaining multiple perspectives should both sustain more diverse and nuanced career trajectories and be more accommodating of personal circumstances, diversity of skills, and different ways of ‘doing things’. Likewise, the co-existence of multiple interpretative strands and work traditions maximises the skills and situations of all contributors to archaeology and leads to a richer understanding of the human pasts that they are engaged in understanding. I would hope that these statements are self-evident, but such an ethos necessitates more than just ‘letting things be’. It requires alertness to what and who is underrepresented in the working structures, foci and interpretative frameworks of contemporary archaeology. It aims for a greater richness and diversity in practicing archaeology and in accommodating what archaeology can do. This is the basis of what is briefly touched upon below using only some selected areas of concern. I Forum
Ruth D. Whitehouse
Introducing Ruth 
It is traditional for honorary volumes to offer a summary of the career and the academic works of the person celebrated on the occasion of their retirement. This article is self-evidently placed in the current issue of the Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology with that function, but it concerns a person who, although retiring as Professor in Mediterranean Studies, is clearly not at the end of her academic career: she has research projects currently in progress, with writing-up and publication timetables in place, and new roles from autumn 2007 as editor of the University College London Institute of Archaeology’s flagship publication Archaeology International and chair of the UCL Institute of Archaeology’s Publications Committee. At the same time she has concurrent plans to devote more time to working on the publishing side of the Accordia Research Institute, which she directs with John Wilkins. Ruth Whitehouse would not particularly warm to a valedictory resume of her academic career to date, and so we offer the following in the spirit of characterizing the career of a successful female academic who is the first and only female professor of the UCL Institute of Archaeology, who has worked within and significantly contributed to the successive strands of archaeological theory and practice that have come to the fore through her academic career, and who remarkably achieved this while remaining a fully rounded person who has enabled the academic development of many, and who has also maintained a total commitment to her thriving family throughout. We would also add that it is impossible not to like Ruth, although she certainly is not a ‘soft touch’—being very much prepared to stand sturdily by her human, political and academic convictions.
Negotiating the cultural and economic outcomes of sport heritage attractions: the case of the National Baseball Hall of Fame
ABSTRACT Contemporary museums must balance their roles as commercial entities and repositories of various, and often dissonant, heritages and histories. Sports museums in particular often have clear commercial and nostalgic aims, particularly through tourist visitation, though the extent to which they represent more challenging narratives remains unclear. This paper examines how one of the most famous sports museums in the world, the National Baseball Hall of Fame (NBHF) in Cooperstown, New York, balances its dual role as tourist attraction and repository of baseball's sometimes checkered past. It was found that different sections of the museum provide greater or lesser degrees of engagement with more controversial issues, although the commercial outputs and appeal of the museum remains clear throughout. Utlimately, the NBHF demonstrates that balancing veneration and critique in collections can be commercially prosperous, and can provide a template for other sport and popular culture museums who may be wary of incorporating more challenging narratives in their exhibits. Furthermore, the symbiotic relationship between the Hall of Fame and the village of Cooperstown, particularly in creating and maintaining cultural and economic outputs, requires further exploration.