Open Forum

I am reaching out to see how other museums handle objects in the collection that are intended (and encouraged) to be used by museum visitors. Are they accessioned into your permanent collection? Are they non-accessioned objects in a different collection (perhaps education or similar)? And in either case, how do they fit in within your collection insurance policy? I'm also curious about maintenance and any changes/alterations that are performed on the objects and how that would impact accessioning and insurance. 

We have a vintage photobooth in our collection (which we are having restored and altered for safety and accessibility) that we will be encouraging museum guests to use during their visit as well as perform necessary maintenance, as needed. I wanted to hear from other museums who have similar functional objects to learn more before I made any decisions about accessioning.

Thank you so much for your help and advice!

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Kathryne Applegate
Collections Manager and Registrar
Massillon Museum
Massillon OH
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Good morning Kathryne,

Our museum is unique in that it is a WWII warship. We have chosen not to plexiglass off certain rooms or items. In the most extreme of cases, a simple chain indicates to visitors not to enter a room. We rarely have issues, mainly because a tour guide is with you the entire time you are at the museum. 

We do encourage visitors to sit on the antiaircraft guns and manually turn them just as sailors did during WWII. They are able to put on helmets, "steer" the ship with the wheel, etc. Do things break sometimes? Sure. One of the antiaircraft guns we let visitors experience has been broken for about a month due to a broken gear. Our team of volunteers are able to fix anything if needed or fabricate reproduction parts. In our eyes, the ship and respective equipment was meant to be used so we do just that. 

We have a separate category within our collections labeled "Ship's Equipment." Anything that can be used by visitors or to repair something, is placed within this category. 

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John Epp
Curator
Destroyer Escort Historical Museum
Albany NY
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I support collections that can be used! 

You might investigate museums that have functioning automobile, watercraft, or airplane collections. There are also a good number of sites with historic carousels. Many of these types of museums have a separate category in their CMPs called "operational collections" or "collections-in-use" that separately specify how these items are treated in terms of access, development, and care.  These categories are separate from education collections in that they're maintained rather than "used up."

You can contact me off list if you'd like some specific examples. 

Erin. 

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Erin Richardson PhD
Founder and Principal
Frank & Glory
Cooperstown NY
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