100acre, a word to the wise:
Be VERY careful about this. I know it sounds fun to use our hobby and skills to benefit museums, archies, etc... That's part of our love of the hobby afterall, is the show & tell aspect, benefitting our community and others , etc... And who wouldn't love to be "in the close friend circles of archies" afterall ? (as opposed to the usual lament of them hating us).
So on the surface, it sounds like a great idea, right ? But be very careful. Because there's been many stories of md'rs proudly coming in to museums with items they want to donate, or coming into museums suggesting that the board of director's archie come join them on a joint-venture dig at such & such place, etc..... Noble ideas right ? Yet they are meet with scathing disdane. As alluded to in your link:
"Many archaeologists consider metal detectorists looters who shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near their labs or dig sites, but Dr. McBride has a different view."
And then what ends up happening, is rather than a hands-joined-in-hands venture, they end up having all the more reason to dis-like us "looters". And such disdains reach the ears of those govt. payroll archies who are instrumental in developing laws, and .... you can see where this goes. So unfortunately, sometimes the "less" visibility is better. Not the "more" visibility.
Also even when it's possibly true that md'rs and archie join hands for cool documenting adventures, displays, etc.... Yet it's not what you think. It's very boring. All you can do is flag the beeps, and they come back days later with tweezers and brushes to dig it up. Unlike our hobbyist md'r notion of digging right then and there.
