We're also just beginning to develop a separate education collection. In
addition to numbering the items, we've developed an working policy that
anything acquired by the education staff for hands-on programs must be
reviewed by curatorial & registration. If the item is thought to be of
"collection quality," then the item is accessioned and made part of the
permanent collections. Some items have been and are being deaccessioned from
the collections for use in education. So far, as a working policy, it's
helped to guide us. Once something is assigned to education, we're free to do
with it as we see fit. If it breaks or is lost, then we'll simply note that
in our database.

Ed Pershey, Director of Education & Curator of Urban History
Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
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