This is a topic that was first of great interest to me when I was a curator at the Museum of the City of New York. I have consequently carried it with me to other regional history museums where I have worked. Traditionally history museums tended to shy away from adding new things to their holdings. The old stuff was much more interesting and besides, wasn't that why such museums existed? This attitude has changed. Collecting things of recent manufacture and use can be a huge challenge. At the MCNY I was in charge of the picture collection (paintings, prints and photographs). In that capacity i decided to institute the totally new practice of acquiring contemporary images of the city. This was not done formally, officially by any sort of approval edict from above. It was an entirely ad hoc personal curatorial initiative and that suited me just fine. I hate collection committees. As far as I can tell, all of what I acquired is still there. How great would it be to come back in a hundred years and see if that is still true. i say this because collecting the current (more about that alliteration below) is an exercise in predicting what the future will find interesting about the past that is now the present. Museums are in the stuff business and there is lot of stuff out there. Deciding what to collect that is old is easier than deciding what to collect that is new. At the MCNY I looked for images of places in transitioin. We had more than enough pictures of the Statue of Liberty.
Collecting policies are fine and every museum should have one but they can rarely be a precide menu of exactly what a museum should acquire, specifically. However, setting one that included acquiring new items is of value as it alerts staff, trustees and the public that hisory is unfolding as we speak and a museum does not adhere to a strict chronological assignment of collecting priorities. For this reason i wrote one when I was director of the Bennington Museum, VT, ini 1997. It was approved by the board but I do not know if it is still in effect. It is included in a chapter I wrote for what I think may be the only book on this subject. "Collecting the Contemporary: A Handbook for Social History Museums" was published by MuseumsEtc in 2014. There is a book about art collecting, edited by Bruce Altshuler, entitled "Collecting the new: Museums and Contemporary Art." Princeton University Press, 2004.
In 1985 I had a piece in Curator magazine called Collecting the Current. If not the first writing in our field about contemporary acquisition practices for history museums, it was an early attempt to discuss the subject...and reflects that as I would love to rewrite it. My chapter in the MuseumsEtc book attempted to do that.
One area of new collecting for history museums involves preserving materials relating to tragedies. A noted example is what Pam Schwartz (curator) is doing at the Orange County Regional History Center in Orlando, FL. She started and is heading the project to acquire artifacts of the Pulse Nightclub shooting.
I would be happy to chat about this topic off-line as it is fascinating and overwhelming both conceptually and acually.
Steve
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Steven Miller
Executive Director
Boscobel House and Gardens
Garrison NY
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-27-2017 06:36 AM
From: Colin Windhorst
Subject: Examples of Contemporary Collecting Policies for Historical Societies
Yes, please add us to this list, also, and cc drhs@myfairpoint.net. We are a small Historical Society operating a tiny museum in Eastern Maine. The question of what to collect from our time, and how to take responsibility for it, is of enduring value. We undertook an exhibition of textiles a few summers back, entitled "What Shall We Wear at Dennys River ", and wished we had more examples of "everyday" articles, like under-clothing, as well as the fine things that have made it through the time machine. The interest is there. Does this mean we should be collecting 1970's toe socks? A fresh look at our collecting habits is very much needed.
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Colin Windhorst PhD
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-26-2017 08:34 AM
From: Max Metz
Subject: Examples of Contemporary Collecting Policies for Historical Societies
Historical Society Colleagues,
As our historical societies age and looser collections policies are formalized inevitably the topic of contemporary collecting is broached. My organization is also in the process of creating a contemporary collecting policy to set up the historical society to tell the important stories of today, 100 years from now. As we all know space and other resources are sometimes in short supply in many organizations, so we want to really think through this process.
As I am sure we are not the first, or the last, to have this conversation, I am hoping other organizations could share their guidelines for contemporary collecting. We are looking forward to seeing the types of bounds your organizations have set to help guide the board in accessioning the best possible collections for the future.
Please share what you can and email me directly if you have any further questions or would like to receive these examples as well.
Kind Regards,
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Max Metz
Manager and Educator
Durant-Kenrick House and Grounds
of Historic Newton
Newton MA
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