Good morning Karen!
I'm currently both full time staff at a museum and a part time collections contractor. My current museum is a county historical society/complex where all staff, board members, and volunteers are local. Our collections committee consists of myself as Assistant Director/Registrar and our Museum Director (the only full time staff we have) and three board members. We meet monthly, all of us have voting privileges, and we consider new donations as well as deaccessioning recommendations. Decisions about acquisitions stop there, but deaccessioning recommendations then pass to the full board for final approval at the next regularly scheduled meeting. We don't currently have interns, but hope to begin a program, and they would be invited to sit in on meetings, but wouldn't have votes. If it's helpful for context, at each month's meeting we typically have about 3-5 donations to consider (which are usually multiple objects each) and on average about 50-100 objects to consider for deaccessioning (we're working on a major inventory/deaccessioning project). We also discuss anything else as it relates to collections such as participating in CAP and the progress on those task recommendations or evaluating our Native American collections for exhibition or repatriation considerations.
My previous institution is a national immigration museum and had a larger staff and volunteer pool who were all local, but the board was spread across the country. There, our collections committee consisted of myself as Registrar, our Executive Director, Curator of Exhibitions, and Archivist, plus a volunteer from the community for that perspective and voice. That committee worked the same as my current museum and considered acquisitions and deaccessions, and then deaccessions went on to the full board for final approval. All of the committee members had votes, including the volunteer. Interns could also sit in for meetings and could participate in discussions, but did not vote. We typically had about 6-8 donations to consider and depending on where we were in that inventory/deaccessioning project, a range of 10-50 objects for deaccessioning consideration.
Hope that's helpful!
Best,
Angela Stanford
Advanced Museum Services
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Angela Stanford
Independent Registrar and Collections Specialist
Advanced Museum Services
Indianola, Iowa
advancedmuseumservices@gmail.comwww.advancedmuseumservices.com------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 05-17-2024 08:20 AM
From: Vivian Zoe
Subject: Collections Committee Membership
Dear Karen - in starting from scratch with regard to industry standards as ED/curator of a small (academic) museum that had virtually never had professional management staff, I established its first collections committee. I felt it was essential to have outside scholars, curators, historians/art historians AND a member of the board on the committee. While it can be difficult to recruit outside professionals with the time/commitment to serve in such capacities, it might be viewed as part of their service to the field, boosting their argument for tenure, promotion etc. at their own institutions.
In addition, outside representation can bring fresh perspectives, expertise and even a true community voice. Also, having a board member already apprised of the deliberations that occurred behind the scenes can make full board approval more likely.
Your institution is large and it sounds like your existing committee is as well, so this model might make yours too unwieldy. Vivian
Original Message:
Sent: 5/16/2024 11:01:00 AM
From: Karen McWhorter
Subject: Collections Committee Membership
Hi Colleagues,
I'm wondering – who sits on your museum's Collections Committee? Staff only, or are board members, community members, or others on your Committee? If so, are they voting members?
At the Buffalo Bill Center of the West (BBCW), our committee is composed of our Library Director, Curators from each of our 5 museums, Registrar, Conservator, Director of Curatorial, Education, and Museum Services, Exhibition Production Manager, and Executive Director – all FT staff. Others may be invited to sit on the committee at the discretion of the Executive Director, who serves as Chair.
The role of the Collections Committee at the BBCW is to review and approve acquisitions, deaccessions, loans, temporary custody agreements, and other collections transactions in accordance with our Collections Management Policy. In addition, they advocate for the needs of the collections, have specific expertise in current legal, ethical, and cultural aspects of collections, and discuss potential additions or changes to collections policies and procedures for presentation to the Board of Trustees.
The Advisory Boards of each of our 5 museums are invited to make recommendations on acquisitions and deaccessions. Our Trustees approve acquisitions over a threshold value and approve all deaccessions.
Thank you in advance! I am looking forward to comparing Collections Committee membership rosters across several institutions.
Best,
Karen
Karen Brooks McWhorter
Director of Curatorial, Education, and Museum Services
karenm@centerofthewest.org
centerofthewest.org