I entirely agree with Janice and Mark in their responses to this 
posting.

Why on earth would a musuem professional ever even consider not 
insuring a collection?

It is rare when an object or artifact is totally lost - most often in a 
disaster there may be substantial damage but it is amazing how well an 
object can be stabilized and recovered. Not to mention other sources of 
loss due to theft.

Collections can constitue one of the major assests of a musuem and thus 
should be as well insured as the buildings that house and exhibit them.

If you want to reduce your insurance rates then perhaps you should 
consider getting a profeeional risk assemsent done and by following up 
on it's recomendations you can demonstrate various loss preventions 
that could allow you to negotiate with the insurer to lower your 
premiums.

Of course, those of us in professional conservation are very vocal 
advocates of many preventive measures to protect and preserve 
collections - the last thing I want to see is a broken, soggy, or moldy 
object in the lab.

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Conservator
Los Angeles, California

-----Original Message-----
From: Janice Klein <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent:         Tue, 22 Mar 2005 13:07:57 -0600
Subject: Re: Insuring Artifacts...

    What would you do in case of a major loss?   Close the museum?   
What about
damage that could be repaired, but would be costly?   Just toss the 
object?

Insurance does not necessarily cover the replacement of one object with 
an
identical object.   It also allows you to replace the object with 
something
of similar value (especially to your mission) that allows you to 
continue to
serve your community.   In the case of an archaeological collection, for
example, you might want to use the funds to pay for the cost of a new
(scientific) excavation that might result in similar material.

janice

Janice Klein
Director, Mitchell Museum of the American Indian
[log in to unmask]
www.mitchellmuseum.org

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Andy Dickes
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 12:43 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Insuring Artifacts...


Hello all-

I work at a museum that has about 5,000 artifacts.  I am relatively new
here, and in the past the museum has peen paying an insurance premium to
cover the estimated worth of the collection.  This does not make sense 
to
me, since we can't buy back the artifacts if something happens.  What do
other museums do in terms of insurance for artifacts?  Do most have some
sort of insurance, but not necessarily for the entire worth of the
collection, or do most just figure it's not worth it at all?

Thanks in advance-

Andy

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