This volume provides a practical guide to all aspects of collections care including conservation practice, the monitoring of control of light, relative humidity and atmospheric pollution, biological infestation and disaster planning.
Museum curators enter the profession with a specialist subject qualification and yet at some point in their career, many curators find themselves in charge of a range of collections outside of their expert knowledge. Interpreting, curating and caring for mixed collections demands of curators a wide range of knowledge and understanding. The Curation and Care of Museum Collections is designed to give curators the fundamental information and confidence they need to manage and care for all of the collections within their responsibility, regardless of their previous training and experience. Comprising two sections – Museum Collections, and Collection Development and Care – the chapters cover archaeology, art, history, military and natural sciences collections, as well as heritage properties. Every chapter in the book is focused on one type of collection, but all chapters in the collection management section contain advice on topics such as organisational philosophy, documentation, legal issues and materials in order to provide a useful and comprehensive guide to managing collections. The collection care section is structured in the same way, considering the issues of storage; display; handling; moving; packing; housekeeping; health and safety; emergency preparedness; and pest, pollution, environmental, light and vibration management. The contributors to this book are experienced museum professionals, each with their own specialism and a deep understanding of what it means to work in the context of mixed collections. Providing a highly practical guide, The Curation and Care of Museum Collections is essential reading for curators working in all types of museums, galleries and heritage sites, and for students of museology courses around the world.
Good storage is the foundation of effective collection care, advancing conservation while at the same time promoting accessibility and use. Preventive Conservation: Collection Storage covers the storage of all types of collections, including science, fine and decorative art, history, library, archive, and digital collections. It concentrates on preventive conservation and emphasizes a risk management approach. Reflecting the breadth of its scope, the new book is collaboration between The Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections; the American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works; the Smithsonian Institution; and the George Washington University Museum Studies Program.
This book is a practical guide for everyone who is confronted with a collection that hasn’t seen any preventive conservation or cataloging before. It helps gaining an overview, defining priorities, and organizing the work in a way it is safe for the objects and the people involved. It defines “logical exits”, goals to work towards where the collection is in a state the next steps can wait without risking the progress made. Later on, readers learn to define their own “logical exits” that fit their specific situation. Compared to other books about collections management it doesn’t focus on the details of collections care, but rather on the big picture of managing such a project. It assumes that at the beginning there is nothing but the reader and an unmanaged collection, so that part of the project is to source money, material, and people to help. The second edition has a new chapter on setting up collections management systems, the original text was reworked and in parts enhanced, there are additional success stories in the last chapter with references to them in the text, and the bibliography now contains some resources for natural history, indigenous, and archaeological collections.
In recent years, many museums have implemented sweeping changes in how they engage audiences. However, changes to the field’s approaches to collections stewardship have come much more slowly. Active Collections critically examines existing approaches to museum collections and explores practical, yet radical, ways that museums can better manage their collections to actively advance their missions. Approaching the question of modern museum collection stewardship from a position of "tough love," the authors argue that the museum field risks being constrained by rigid ways of thinking about objects. Examining the field’s relationship to objects, artifacts, and specimens, the volume explores the question of stewardship through the dissection of a broad range of issues, including questions of "quality over quantity," emotional attachment, dispassionate cataloging, and cognitive biases in curatorship. The essays look to insights from fields as diverse as forest management, library science, and the psychology of compulsive hoarding, to inform and innovate collection practices. Essay contributions come from both experienced museum professionals and scholars from disciplines as diverse as psychology, education, and history. The result is a critical exploration that makes the book essential reading for museum professionals, as well as those in training.
Preserve, Protect, and Defend: A Practical Guide to the Care of Collections is an essential text for museum professionals, volunteers and consultants across a wide range of responsibilities: curators, registrars, collections managers, archivists, museum administrators, museum educators, conservators, art historians, operations staff, designers, engineers, architects, building contractors, suppliers, security specialists, and pest control experts. The topics are wide ranging: conservation assessments; practical advice for examining collections and buildings to uncover collection safety issues; routine collection safety practices; preparing for the unexpected, including wind and water penetration, fire and smoke, and infestations; and controlling the museum environment including temperature and relative humidity, light and lighting, and air quality. The book also offers an inside look into the world of museums and the people who work in them. Written in the accessible-and sometimes irreverent-style that the author is famous for, this book is a must-have for everyone who cares for collections and the buildings that house them-museums of all sizes, archives, libraries, and private collections.
Hailed when it was first published in 1985 as the bible of U.S. collections management, A Legal Primer on Managing Museum Collections offers the only comprehensive discussion of the legal questions faced by museums regarding collections. This revised and expanded third edition addresses the many legal developments—including a comprehensive discussion of stolen art and the international movement of cultural property, recent developments in copyright, and the effects of burgeoning electronic uses—that have occurred during the past twenty-five years. An authorative, go-to book for any museum professional, Legal Primer offers detailed explanations of the law, suggestions for preventing legal problems, and numerous case studies of lawsuits involving museum collections.
This revised edition of Things Great and Small is a comprehensive resource for preparing and applying collections management policies. Simmons reviews current ideas and literature on the subject, highlights the issues that collections management policies should address, and explains the pros and cons of choosing some policy options over others.
This landmark publication is the first to draw together all aspects of museum collections management in one handbook. It is designed for anyone with responsibility for a cultural collection and covers everything a collections manager needs to know. It describes professional practice in managing cultural objects and works of art, whatever the size and nature of the collection. The book includes essential information on: Legal aspects of collections Ethical issues such as due diligence and immunity from seizure Up to date concerns such as sustainability, crossing borders and financial constraints Loans, acquisitions, inventory and movement. The book describes all collections management procedures in a simple step-by-step process and is clear and easy to use with all procedures based on international museum practice. Examples of real forms, policies and documents drawn from major museums are included throughout the text and act as guides for any transaction. Readership: Packed full of practical information, advice and good practice, this will be essential reading for all museum professionals, curators of private collections and museum studies students.