We keep what we refer to as a "building archive," a file cabinet organized by rooms in our house (an early 20th century mansion) and then by themes (fire suppression, windows, etc). It has been immensely helpful to us and we are really wishing that people had done this seventy years ago.... or even 15... so we'd have a clue what's been done in some parts of the house. We also have large flat files (blueprints etc) that we are figuring out how to store. We are lucky enough to have an archivist on staff since we have a library, and I think that this will be her purview, but the museum staff refer to these files frequently, so they're kept near us. We are also about to digitize our blueprints which will be very helpful for everyone. We keep photos of any work digitized when we have them in that format, but otherwise would store them in the building archive, definitely NOT accessioned (they're not artifacts, just documentary evidence). I think you have a good case for removing them from the collection, or at least creating a different category of collection so that you don't have to worry about treating them as collections objects.
WAJR
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Subject: MUSEUM-L Digest - 13 Jul 2012 to 14 Jul 2012 (#2012-177)
There is 1 message totaling 195 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Photo COllection
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Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2012 13:18:31 -0400
From: TOdd Bothel <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Photo COllection
Hi Mike, I would classify them as institutional archives as opposed to collections archives. I would store them in a binder or box that contains all the details (blueprints, funding, etc.) of the project similar to what you might do with event pictures. I definitely would not accession them.
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Vogt <[log in to unmask]>
To: MUSEUM-L <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Fri, Jul 13, 2012 1:09 pm
Subject: Photo COllection
Hi Folks,
I am wondering if any of you have photos of restoration work that has taken place at your museum or historic home and how they are treated. I just discovered that we have about 1000 from some restoration work that was completed on a historic home in 2004 showing men repairing a roof, leaks in ceilings, exposed underground pipes, etc. All of these images have been accessioned as part of our photo collection. It seemed like a complicated issue to me because this places them to a higher standard of care than if they were just documentary style images to be used for reference by staff in the future. It also means the difference between having them in a cheap binder on a shelf or in a fairly expensive archival box taking up valuable shelf space in a collections storage area. While the information they contain is useful to us, their historic value can probably be debated.
Any suggestions would be most helpful!
Thanks,
Mike
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End of MUSEUM-L Digest - 13 Jul 2012 to 14 Jul 2012 (#2012-177)
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