I concur with Claudia.  Here is the link to a 2006 paper on the subject that seems quite comprehensive:
 
http://www.illinoishistory.gov/iam/members/PDFs/HowToN39Insurance106.pdf
 
Also, if you have a local independent insurance agent with access to numerous insurance companies, they should be able to access the questionnaires used by companies, such as AON, to recommend the amount of insurance you should carry.  These help determine your risk for loss.  You want to purchase insurance to cover the risk of loss to collections. You could also contact insurers listed as vendors on the AAM website and ask them to forward you the questionnaire.  I imagine they would be happy to work with you in hopes of getting your business. 
 
Hope that helps William, and good luck with your new position!
 
Carola Enriquez
Museum Mentor
 
In a message dated 6/10/2010 8:32:10 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes:
Generally speaking, collections insurance must be sufficient to allow a museum to recover from a partial disaster, not a total  loss.  In history and art museums, the collection is generally mostly unique and irreplaceable anyway.  Appraising the entire collection is an unending, expensive, and unnecessary undertaking.  While you might wish to insure a couple of key artifacts on a schedule, otherwise, collections insurance should be viewed as the instrument to be used in the event of disaster.

Claudia

Claudia J. Nicholson
Executive Director
North Star Museum of Boy Scouting and Girl Scouting
2640 Seventh Avenue East
North St. Paul, MN 55109-3103
651-748-2880

On Jun 10, 2010, at 9:31 AM, Aderman, Ella wrote:

We recently had this discussion with our board.  Unless you have an inventory with accompanying appraised values for your collection, how would an insurance company know what it is you lost and/or how much it was worth?  Unless you have very valuable individual items, a lot of small historical societies can not afford that kind of insurance.  General property/building liability, absolutely. 
 
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of REYNOLDS, Trevor
Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2010 4:10 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] appraisal?
 
If the collection is insured then it would probably make sense to have an insurance valuation.  If not I wouldn't think it was worth the effort.
 
Trevor Reynolds
Collections Registrar, English Heritage
37 Tanner Row, York, YO1 6WP tel: 01904 601905
 
 
 

From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of William Freil
Sent: 09 June 2010 21:46
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: appraisal?

Hi gang,
 
I'm the new Collections Manager at a small historical society in Western PA. The collection has never been catalogued until now, but I have some volunteers asking me if we have should get an appraisal done on the collection? It doesn't seem to make much sense to have it done yet. What is the best course of action? How would you handle telling the volunteer  and/or the appraiser (who is also a volunteer)? 
 
Sincerely,
 
William A. Freil
 
Collections Manager 
Greene County Historical Society
416 Rolling Meadows Road
Waynesburg, PA 15320

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