Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections

Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections PDF Author: Angela Kipp
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442263490
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 150

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Book Description
Managing previously unmanaged collections can be challenging. The process of securing the collection and making it accessible needs the mindset of a collections manager as well as the one of a project manager. The target audience are museum professionals with a basic training in collections care that are confronted with collections that are either large in numbers (1000+ artifacts) or stored confusingly, or both. The book is a step-by-step guide how to approach this situation, assuming that there's nothing to start with but a collection that has to be accessioned and the person who is assigned to do it. It is about how to bring order into the chaos, to define what is needed in terms of time, money, staff and material, to spot facility issues and potential dangers, and to use the power of networking to solve an otherwise unsolvable task. Many chapters conclude with “logical exits,” the points at which the collection in a condition that allows you to leave it for the next curator to take over. A common issue is that time frames are often so tight that the target of having the collection in good shape at the end of a contract or at a fixed date can’t be met. Another common scenario may be that other projects become more important and you have to stop working on the collection, which might sound familiar to many directors of small museums. “Logical exits” are the points you can do this without risking that everything you’ve done so far or since the last “logical exit” was a waste of time. For contractors those “logical exits” might serve as orientation points when negotiating the work that has to be done on the collection.

Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections

Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections PDF Author: Angela Kipp
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442263490
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 150

Get Book

Book Description
Managing previously unmanaged collections can be challenging. The process of securing the collection and making it accessible needs the mindset of a collections manager as well as the one of a project manager. The target audience are museum professionals with a basic training in collections care that are confronted with collections that are either large in numbers (1000+ artifacts) or stored confusingly, or both. The book is a step-by-step guide how to approach this situation, assuming that there's nothing to start with but a collection that has to be accessioned and the person who is assigned to do it. It is about how to bring order into the chaos, to define what is needed in terms of time, money, staff and material, to spot facility issues and potential dangers, and to use the power of networking to solve an otherwise unsolvable task. Many chapters conclude with “logical exits,” the points at which the collection in a condition that allows you to leave it for the next curator to take over. A common issue is that time frames are often so tight that the target of having the collection in good shape at the end of a contract or at a fixed date can’t be met. Another common scenario may be that other projects become more important and you have to stop working on the collection, which might sound familiar to many directors of small museums. “Logical exits” are the points you can do this without risking that everything you’ve done so far or since the last “logical exit” was a waste of time. For contractors those “logical exits” might serve as orientation points when negotiating the work that has to be done on the collection.

Collection Care

Collection Care PDF Author: Brent Powell
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442238836
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 447

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Book Description
Collection Care: An Illustrated Handbook for the Care and Handling of Cultural Objects provides a solid overview of basic collection care procedures and policies. The topics covered address the decision making criteria and risk assessment solutions involved in the best practices for handling art and artifacts. Technical subjects will cover proven techniques, materials, equipment and address problem solving assessment and current solutions. The comprehensive overview of staff responsibilities, relationships and training will bring the book to a conclusion of addressing the unison of all professionals responsible for proper handling and caring for collections. Highlights include: This book provides both visual and narrative descriptions of current best practices for caring for collection objects. Emphasis is placed on risk assessment in the decision-making process with proven, accepted technical methods and materials. Detailed coverage of technical methods and methodologies for principles of proper handling, transport, and storage or two and three dimensional objects. Chapters will cover the institutional structure for managing, hiring, training both full and part time staff responsible for safely handling and caring of collection objects. 100 photographs, figures, and charts provide overall directions for collection care, preventive maintenance, and proper handling of objects.

Things Great and Small

Things Great and Small PDF Author: John E. Simmons
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 9781442277441
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
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.

Things Great and Small

Things Great and Small PDF Author: John E. Simmons
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 153818379X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
The third edition of Things Great and Small continues to be a comprehensive resource for developing, implementing, and revising collection management policies and includes new information for addressing prolonged or permanent closure of museums, wider parameters for collection storage environments, and sustainable collection management practices.

Registration Methods for the Small Museum

Registration Methods for the Small Museum PDF Author: Daniel B. Reibel
Publisher: Rowman Altamira
ISBN: 9780759111318
Category : Katalogisering
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
Daniel B Reibel's Registration Methods for the Small Museum has been the definitive guide to registration methodology since 1978. Covering all aspects of the registration of museum collections, Registration Methods for the Small Museum provides practical solutions for any museum professional in a concise, readable manner. The new fourth edition brings the classic handbook up-to-date with the electronic registration techniques that are available for today's museum.

Using and Curating Archaeological Collections

Using and Curating Archaeological Collections PDF Author: Mark S. Warner
Publisher: University Press of Colorado
ISBN: 0932839622
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
All archaeologists have responsibilities to support the collections they produce, yet budgeting for and managing collections over the length of a project and beyond is not part of most archaeologists training. While this book in the SAA Press Archaeology in Action Series highlights major challenges that archaeologists and curators face with regard to collections, it also stresses the values, uses, and benefits of collections. It also demonstrates the continued significance of archaeological collections to the profession, tribes, and the public and provides critical resources for archaeologists to carry out their responsibilities. Many lament that the archaeological record is finite and disappearing. In this context, collections are even more important to preserve for future use, and this book will help all stakeholders do so.

Museum Basics

Museum Basics PDF Author: Timothy Ambrose
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351869418
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 641

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Book Description
This fourth edition of Museum Basics has been produced for use in the many museums worldwide that operate with few professional staff and limited resources. The fourth edition has been fully updated to reflect the many changes that have taken place in museums around the world over the last six years. Drawing from a wide range of practical experience, the authors provide a basic guide to all aspects of museum work, from audience development and learning, through collections management and conservation, to museum management and forward planning. Museum Basics is organised on a modular basis, with over 100 units in eight sections. It can be used both as a reference work to assist day-to-day museum management, and as the key textbook for pre-service and in-service museum training programmes, where it can be supplemented by case studies, project work and group discussion. This edition includes over 100 diagrams to support the text, as well as a glossary, sources of information and support and a select bibliography. Museum Basics is also supported by its own companion website, which provides a wide range of additional resources for readers. Museum Basics aims to help the museum practitioner keep up to date with new thinking about the function of museums and their relationships with the communities they serve. The training materials provided within the book are also suitable for pre-service and in-service students who wish to gain a full understanding of work in a museum.

Museum Registration Methods

Museum Registration Methods PDF Author: John E. Simmons
Publisher: American Alliance of Museums
ISBN: 9781538113110
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 560

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Book Description
The sixth edition of Museum Registration Methods is a comprehensive guide to registration and collections management of museum collections, from acquisition, use, and deaccessioning.

Museum Collection Ethics

Museum Collection Ethics PDF Author: Steven Miller
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 1538135213
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 223

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Book Description
Collection ethics – the third rail of the museum profession. What are the encompassing issues museum face regarding how they acquire, keep and work with their collections? Museum Collection Ethics discusses the complexities inherent in preserving and interpreting the extraordinary range of culturally significant objects entrusted to museums. The book presents an encompassing look at every aspect of the intellectual and stewardship duties museums by definition assume. The differences between ethics, laws, customs, and expectations are discussed. They are not synonymous. Ethics vary widely and are fluid. Essential factors include: Defining a museum as an ethical pursuit The role of museum governing authorities regarding ethics The ethics of collection authority: who is responsible for collection truths How museums collect and how ethics influences that activity The ethics of assuring collection authenticity The ethical access to collections, be it physical or digital Ethics and conservation Exhibition ethics The ethics of collection removals be they voluntary or involuntary This is the first book devoted solely to the ethical concerns museums face regarding their collections.

Fluid Preservation

Fluid Preservation PDF Author: John E. Simmons
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442229667
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 365

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Book Description
Fluid preservation refers to specimens and objects that are preserved in fluids, most commonly alcohol and formaldehyde, but also glycerin, mineral oil, acids, glycols, and a host of other chemicals that protect the specimen from deterioration. Some of the oldest natural history specimens in the world are preserved in fluid. Despite the fact that fluid preservation has been practiced for more than 350 years, this is the only handbook that summarize all that is known about this complex and often confusing topic. Fluid Preservation: A Comprehensive Reference covers the history and techniques of fluid preservation and how to care for fluid preserved specimens in collections. More than 900 references on fluid preservation were reviewed for this project. An historical survey of preservative recipes provides for guidance for museums with older collections (many fluid preservatives contain hazardous chemicals). Current standards and best practices for collection care and management are presented. Current and controversial topics (e.g., the preservation of DNA, alternatives to alcohol and formaldehyde) are discussed and fully referenced. Health and safety issues involved with caring for fluid preserved collections are discussed. The final chapter addresses fluid preserved specimens as cultural products and their use in art, literature, film, and song. Although most fluid-preserved specimens are found in natural history and medical museums, it is not at all uncommon to find them in art museums, history museums, and science centers. In addition to animals, plants, and anatomical specimens, fluid preserved collections include some minerals and fossils and many other objects. Fluid Preservation is an essential reference for: Natural history curators Natural history collections managers Conservators Medical and anatomical museum collections managers and curators Art and history museum staff who have fluid preserved specimens and objects in their care (e.g., works by Damien Hirst) Private collectors Researchers using museum collections as sources of DNA, isotopes, etc. Health and safety professionals Exhibit planners and designers Museum facilities planners and managers People interested in the history of science People interested in the history of natural history museums Museum studies students