At Conner Prairie, staff is allowed to collect objects in the institution's collecting policy.  The catch being that anything purchased after employment must be offerred to the institution either as a donation or at cost.  If the acquisition committee turns it down - that's it - it belongs to the employee who purchased it.  The museum cannot come back "X" amount of time later and ask for it.

Also, at the time of hiring, the employee is required to sign off on the personnel policy if they collect.  The policy also requires that no employee be a dealer.

Lana Newhart-Kellen
Registrar
Conner Prairie Museum

>>> [log in to unmask] 06/27/03 12:32PM >>>
Hello All-

Wonder if I might pick the List Serve collective brain about the issue of museum staff personal collecting and the possibility of conflicts of interest.  Specifically, I'm wondering if there is any difference in philosophy between the fine art museum world and other museums (basically all others) regarding these issues.  I hope not to raise a firestorm here, but I'm interested in getting a feel for whether practices acceptable to one side of the house are unacceptable or questionable to the other side.  Folks are welcome to respond to me on or off-line.  Thanks very much-

__________________________________________________
Sarah J. Sessions
Plans & Programs Office
United States Air Force Museum
USAFM/MUX
1100 Spaatz St.
Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433-7102
COMM (937) 255-5174 x376
DSN 785-5174 x376
FAX COMM (937) 656-4340
FAX DSN 986-4340
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