Open Forum

Dana, I certainly agree with Erin's suggestions. I worked in a museum where we developed a collections management policy (CMP)  for a collection of about seventy buildings, to help reinforce their historic importance, and the special care they should receive. Buildings, and things such as marine vessels exist in very harsh environments, so they generally need more care and maintenance than small objects. It is essential, then, to document the philosophy and even the procedures (outside of the CMP itself) as to what may be considered acceptable use and care.

I think that museums can develop their own categories -- though Erin's list is quite complete -- and of course you can change the category of an object if necessary. For example, our museum researched an antique clock that had been kept running for decades, if not longer. Our clock conservator documented some old repairs and some misguided treatment, while observing that the museum's clock was the closest to original condition that he had ever seen, from that maker. That convinced us that replacing old parts would not be a wise choice, and that preserving the near-original mechanism was the responsible thing to do. Thus, the clock was placed in the category of hands-off preservation. Establishing collections categories that fit your objects and the museum's mission, and documenting the items' use and care, will help you make good decisions.

Hi Dana! There are many ways to treat this item.  Some museums with historic automobiles, carousels, train cars, etc, have a several categories of collections they manage. Here are some:

Core/permanent/exhibition/research: Generally a hands-off collection for research, study, exhibition. 

Collections-in-use: Historic automobiles, train cars, carousels, pianos and other musical instruments, and other things that have significant provenance and are part of the collection but lose a lot of meaning (and sometimes their lives are shorter) when they're not being used for their purpose. 

Education collection: duplicates, old things without specific provenance, etc that are used in education programs/handled by the public. They are generally durable and not consumable -they generally don't "wear out" (as opposed to scissors, glue and craft supplies)

Set dressing/prop: Not any of the above collections but useful in creating atmosphere for an immersive exhibition space. Maybe you want to recreate an important person's office and have some of their original stuff, but you also want to add other books, pens, pencils, a trash can, etc to add more reality to the installation. These might be tracked but aren't part of the accessioned collection

Dear Dana

In my experience with not too fragile objects they can be educational props. I did an internship at a museum where the museum had a study table with touch able objects for all. I would answer visitors questions about them. 

Hope that helps.

Rachel

In addition to all the great advice thus far, I would add, document this prop/education collection with its own number system, brief description and a photograph. You need to think beyond yourself and other staff. Ask yourself: "When I am not here anymore, will anyone know this is a prop/educational or collections item. Ironically, we had a series of off site education kits based on different themes in incredible heavy trunks. Once the program became obsolete (probably due to the weight of the trunks), the some of the items were transferred to the museum's formal collections.