Emily, it all depends on what significance, if any, the items have to your
museum's mission. Secondly, it depends on what your collections policy
says. If the items have good provenance that supports your mission and
policies, and your documentation indicates clear title, then retain them as
accessioned artifacts, "retire" them from use, and put them back in storage
after thoroughly documenting their condition. If they do not fit your
mission, and your policy supports deaccessioning them, then you could go
through that process and retain them as museum property. Then you have a
choice whether to just use them, or to protect them and use them. The
intermediate choice, to maintain them as accessioned artifacts but continue
to use them, must refer back to your policies. If a certain level of care
is mandated for accessioned items, then you are bound to maintain that
level of care. If no such mandate exists - well, maybe you need to revisit
your policy.

Best of luck, and thanks for trying to do the right thing. And thank your
volunteers for being alert to check for numbers.
Anne T. Lane, Collections Manager-at-large



On Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 5:49 PM, Emily Apple <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> I have just become the new director of a small rural museum. We have found
> a couple of things - a desk and a church pew - which have been used by
> volunteers (the desk is our geneaologist's desk) and were just discovered
> to have been accessioned artifacts. The team just noticed in moving things
> around that these pieces had accession numbers, and thus are parts of our
> collection. So, I am wondering how to proceed; should we...
>
> Maintain the accessioned status and stop using the items?
> Maintain the accessioned status and continue using the items, perhaps with
> plexi covering the desk top, etc. or archival fabris covering the church
> pew?
> De-accession the desk and pew to be used in the museum?
>
> This is a tough one, and as an emerging professional, I have not run into
> this issue yet. Thank you for your suggestions,
>
> --
> Emily M. Apple
> [log in to unmask]
> [log in to unmask]
>
> *"Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to
> continue that counts."  Winston Churchill
>
> **"Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared
> believe that something inside of them was superior to circumstance." Bruce
> Barton***
>
>
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