In a message dated 02-03-25 12:26:57 EST, Carol Reid wrote:

<< Basically if you collect cameras and want to work in a Camera Museum, you
 have to forgo the personal collecting of material relating to your museum. A
 lot of specialized knowledge in museums comes from having been collectors,
 but you should give up the personal collecting of material that when you
 enter the employment of a museum. (now if you collect dino bones and work in
 a camera museum, no conflict!) >>

But what if you work in a large museum which collects in many fields?  If
carried to its logical conclusion, that dictum would imply that an employee
of such a museum couldn't own anything of "museum quality".  My museum
collects contemporary clothing and artifacts of popular culture: would a
"collecting" prohibition mean I couldn't buy a new suit or a movie poster?

I'm going to repeat what I wrote the last time this issue arose on this list,
probably a couple of years ago.  I don't think personal collecting in your
professional field (or in other areas in which your museum collects)
necessarily represents a conflict of interest at all--as long as your
collecting doesn't interfere with your institution's ability to
collect--e.g., acquiring for yourself things that the museum wants or should
have.  It's certainly unethical to actually compete with your institution for
the same objects.  You might purchase a choice item for yourself, for
example, without giving your museum the opportunity to acquire it.  That's a
no-no.  And certainly if you accept as a personal gift an item which could
have been donated to the museum instead, that's worse.  But I see no problem
in purchasing an item which your museum has specifically declined.  For
example, a dealer once left a group of low-priced items on approval with the
museum.  I made an initial selection and my boss, in a second round, made his
final choices, about half of my group.  I purchased for myself one of the
items he rejected.  He knew that and saw no problem with it.

I may very well bequeath that item to the museum eventually.  Or if the
museum eventually decides to purchase it after all, I might sell it at the
same price I paid (rather than the current market value, which is now far
greater than the original price).  I don't see any conflict there.

On another occasion my boss bought an expensive group of items, for which the
museum did not have adequate purchase funds (in any event, our department
chairman would not approve the purchase).  He owned and held the item for
several years until he found a donor who repaid him the original purchase
price; the items then were recorded as a gift from that donor to the museum.
If my boss had not had the ability to collect personally, the museum would
not have had the opportunity to acquire the material at all because some
other collector or museum would probably have snapped it up.  Having the
ability to purchase material for a curator's "personal" collection,
especially when timing is important, therefore can actually enhance the
museum's collecting power in the long run.  This can be something of a gamble
because the collections committee can always reject the curator's "find", and
in such situations the employee should be commended for taking the risk.

A non-competitive clause is important, but this should not mean that the
museum employee has to forego personal collecting entirely.  It would be
logical to file a periodic report with your institution about your personal
acquisitions to guard against any hanky-panky or unethical dealings, or the
appearance thereof.  I think your museum has a right to require full
disclosure on this issue, but not a broad prohibition against personal
collecting.  The higher the value of a personal collection, of course, the
greater is the need for disclosure.

David Haberstich

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