Ashley,
Modern prudent collections stewardship emphasizes
that collections should support the mission of the museum. While
this can be quite broad, most institutions do not want to become a community
attic. Thus, wise institutions tighten their mission
statement exclusively to objects that they want in their
collections that forward their objectives. This then leads to tightened
collections policies that provide specific guidance on what is, and is not,
appropriate for the collections. Clearly, no museum, not even the largest
and most respected, can collect everything, so limitations must be imposed based
upon the mission and collections policies. You and everyone else will soon
run out of space if this is not done. Imagine your collections in 100
years. Or perhaps more prudently in 1,000 years. Will you have the
funds and space to harbor millions of objects? Undoubtedly not. So,
if you start now, you will eliminate unimaginable headaches for future museum
personnel. Just my observations of the inner workings of hundreds of
smaller museums.
Marc
Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2016 5:06 PM
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Sympathy Scrap Books/Funeral
Books
Hello Everyone!
I recently started a new position at a
small county museum and our director has been in the habit of accepting just
about everything that walks in the door. I am attempting to establish a more
rigid collections policy and recently we received a box of donations that
contained several scrapbooks that were full of sympathy cards and a few funeral
ledgers.
I am curious as to how other establishments handle these items.
Do you keep them? Send them back? Or dispose of them? My boss is of the mind
that we should keep them, but our space is limited and I feel that while they
are certainly special, they simply do not belong as apart of our collection.
I appreciate anyone's thoughts on this and I look forward to any
responses I receive!
Thank you in advance for any advice you can offer!
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