Richard,
Cranbrook Educational Community (which comprises three main programmatic areas--schools, art, and science--as well as my area, which oversees our historical resources) has a complex governance structure. In short, all of the programmatic areas have committees that serve as the "gate keepers," if you will, for their collections, with those committees then ultimately reporting to a unified Collections Committee, which, in turn, reports, to our overall Board of Trustees (which has ultimate legal and fiduciary authority). To accession/deaccession an object related to the Art Museum, as an example, the review process is as follows:
1. Museum Committee (reviews for mission and programmatic concerns)
2. Board of Governors of Cranbrook Academy of Art and Art Museum (oversees Museum Committee)
3. Collections Committee of the Board of Trustees (reviews for legal and financial concerns)
4. Board of Trustees (oversees Board of Trustees)
While this works for Cranbrook, it can be a slow process. All four groups must vote and approve the accessions/deaccessions. From beginning to end, the process can take from three to six months. Glad to talk further, on or offline.
Greg Wittkopp
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Gregory Wittkopp
Director
Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research
Bloomfield Hills MI
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-26-2018 02:53 PM
From: Richard Saunders
Subject: Collection Committee
I am interested to know if anyone is familiar with a college or university where a single collections committee (to oversee acquisitions, deaccessions, collection planning, etc.) oversees multiple campus museums.
Richard Saunders
Director
Middlebury College Museum of Art
Professor, History of Art and Architecture