Interesting question. My colleague, who is with our historical society,
abides by a policy of each item purchased by staff, which could relate to
the institutional collection, first be offered to the curator of that
division. Clearly, this is a honor policy, subject to individual ethics. He
seems to feel it works well at his institution.
Good luck!
Robin

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Anne Lane
Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 1999 9:39 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Staff Collecting


We are in the process of revamping our collections policy, and one of the
areas we would like to deal with more comprehensively is that of personal
collecting by staff.  We are, of course, particularly concerned with
situations where staff members collect actively in areas where the museum
also collects; in our case, our collecting scope is broad enough that it is
proving rather difficult to set realistic parameters.  We would appreciate
hearing from other institutions both what their published policies are and
what, if any, difficulties have arisen with implementation of these
policies.  It is one thing to subscribe to a general code of ethics; it is
quite another to try to determine whether the piece of contemporary pottery
purchased from a local artisan for mixing bread dough has to be offered to
the institution's collections committee before being pressed into use.
Help!
Anne T. Lane
Curatorial Assistant
Museum of York County
4621 Mount Gallant Road
Rock Hill, SC 29715
803-329-2121, ext 104
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