Some museums have written policies that clearly lay out the requirements for artifacts to travel. If not, then who travels with artifacts or an exhibit depends on what the artifacts are and/or where they are going. Some museums automatically send someone to accompany artifacts regardless of what they are, where they are going, or whether they have a written policy or not. Some museums never send anyone. In my experience, it depended on what type of artifact we were sending and the destination. If you are not confident that the borrower has the expertise to handle certain artifacts, then you should send someone with the artifacts, or not send the artifacts at all. If you send someone, it should be a collection management person. The safety of the artifacts should be your highest priority. I would first require a facilities report from the borrower. It doesn't have to be the AAM report, but it should indicate the borrower's security, insurance, expertise, environment, etc. You indicated that most of the borrowing venues were small, so it may be necessary to travel with the artifacts to provide expertise and assistance. If the venues are relatively close, then that should not a problem. Your travel budget could be part of the fee that is charged the borrowing institution. If you are not charging a fee for the exhibit, then you may need to absorb the cost. I would never use general shippers, such as Yellow Freight, UPS, or others like them. Many moving companies have "exhibit" divisions, but you need to watch them as well. Their expertise with museum artifacts can be seriously lacking. Museum movers are the best transporters, but some are better than others. Let the safety of the artifacts be your primary concern.
Jeff Tenuth
Indiana State Museum
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Lisa Dunbar
Sent: Monday, July 24, 2006 10:37 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] traveling exhibits
We are just beginning a traveling exhibits program that will include
artifacts. These will be small exhibits traveling mostly to local histor=
y
museums around the state. I wanted to know if anyone had any guidelines=
for when a Curator or Collections Manager needed to travel with the
artifacts and when it would be okay for artifacts to be shipped to the =
borrowing museum and unpacked by their staff. Would someone from
Collections need to accompany only fragile objects, or would they need to=
go any time artifacts travel? What other factors do we need to consider?=
Most of the places that would get these exhibits would be small, with ver=
y
limited budgets, so we are trying to keep expenses down for them. Thanks=
for your help.
Lisa Dunbar
Collections Manager
Orange County Regional History Center
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