I, too, must disagree with the position that "Deaccessioning a donated
item, no matter what, should never happen."
My family has also had a negative experience in having donated items
poorly treated by the museum they were donated to; still, I hold that a
museum must care for its collections taking the "big picture" into
account. It works to the greater good that pieces that do not fit the
institutions mandate, are broken or incomplete, require more resources
to adequately care for than the institution can expend, or have no
historical or research value, etc., etc., are disposed of so that scarce
resources are focused on collections that are more central to the
museums mission. Deaccessioning and disposal are a valuable and
necessary part of collections management, particularly for older
collections that were quite often assembled willy-nilly, before
collections plans and policies had even been dreamt of. Metaphorically,
deaccessioning is the pruning of weak branches so the tree as a whole
can grow stronger.
Now, I certainly don't advocate intentionally alienating donors--to do
so would be suicidal for any museum. But, the museum's public will not
be well served if curatorial decisions are held hostage by the very
small percentage of the public represented by a particular donor and
his/her family.
------------------------------------------------------------
Tim McShane, Assistant--Cultural History
Medicine Hat Museum and Art Gallery
1302 Bomford Crescent S.W.
Medicine Hat, AB T1A 5E6
(403) 502-8587
[log in to unmask]
>>> [log in to unmask] 11/9/2004 8:54:59 AM >>>
Yes, it is unfortunate that Ward Petznick, and others, cannot see
items
donated by their ancestors because they were de-accessioned.
However, museums can and do evolve. They change their mission,
lose/gain
storage space, evaluate that items have not been (and may not be)
properly
cared for.
If a museum, in the past, accepted items without a collection policy,
it may
find itself turning into Grandma's attic. Storage and care of items
takes
time, labor and money, which this group knows all too well are in short
and
dwindling supply.
In the original case of items that were never properly accessioned,
there
seems no doubt that they be appropriately disposed of and funds
directed to
collections. Sale at a distant local auction makes sense.
Janet Falk
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