1. Inventories: How to Handle Undocumented Objects, Deaccessioning and Direct Care
Brian S. Jaeschke, Registrar, Mackinac State Historic Parks
Samantha Engel, Historian, Dow Archives & Gardens
Sarah Humes, Registrar, Kalamazoo Valley Museum
2017 Michigan Museums Association Conference

2. Importance of Doing Inventory
Accountability for Preservation & Care of Your Collection

3. Reasons for Doing Inventory
Opportunity to Update Locations
Identify objects that need conservation
Aid with Security
Photographic Documentation
Insurance Documentation
Aid with Research
Method to establish control over documented and undocumented collections
Basis for planning & budget of collections related projects

4. Types of Inventory Wall To Wall - Complete Inventory
Section to Section
- Particular area or
collection
Spot Inventory
- Small % of collection

5. Plan Your Inventory
• The Information you need to Conduct Inventory • Who will Conduct Inventory • Conduct a Trial Run

6. Developing Location Identification
How will you set up location ID’s
What areas will you be inventorying

7. Inventory Goals What Information Do You Want To Obtain?
Create a Missing and Non-Documented List
Note Location Issues
Object Condition
Parts Missing from Object
Accession Number Issues

8. Inventory Cycle & Making It Easier
How often depends on size of the collection
Use tags in storage areas and on furniture
Develop exhibit indexes for cases

9. Updating Database or Paper Records
Reconciliation of Museum Records

10. Inventorying House Museums
Samantha M. Engel
Historian, Dow Gardens

11. The Issues Facing Historic House Museums
Some houses come filled with stuff
Other houses begin accumulating antiques to fill the house
Often, though, those good-intentioned volunteers had little to no cataloging experience

12. Two Case Studies The Whaley Historic House Museum Inventory
Multiple donors
Volunteer organized
Many items throughout the home were not cataloged and many not thoroughly
The Pines, the Home of Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow
All Dow artifacts
Foundation maintained
Many areas of the home had never been cleaned and object records were incomplete

13. The Whaley House – Step 1 Paper Accession records never had photos
Room-by-room inventory revealed many objects lacked numbers
If searching for the object failed we considered it a “Found in Collections” object and numbered it as such
Year.Accession number we assigned to be FiC.object#

14. Whaley House Step 1 - cont.
If object numbered and matched to a PP record, we simply updated it with all relevant information
If the number could not be located in PP, we created a new entry based on that number, assuming it could match up with a paper record.

15. Whaley House Step 2
Before our fire in 2015 we had not completed this process, but the following outlines the method we planned to use.
Search paper accession records
If the paper record matched a complete record in PP (meaning it had a photo) scanned the paper record into the program
If it matched an incomplete record (no photo) we deleted the PP record, unless we could discern what the item was from a physical description. In that case we updated the entry.
At the time of updating, we would check to see if we had made a duplicate entry during the object inventory and clean up that error.

16. Conclusion
Although I cannot speak to the end result of this process, the object inventory was progressing successfully.
We realized in creating this plan that we could in the end need to fix mistakes made during the process, but with the paper records and staff we had, we decided it to best.
We were also going to slowly begin a deaccessioning process for the odds and ends in the attic and closets, as well as broken items, but the fire took care of that.

17. The Pines – Overview
In this case, we never had a question about accessions.
Major items in the home had been catalogued in the ‘90s, but they used a room-based numbering system.
Many items had not been photographed.
Our problem
Creating a numbering system that works
Cleaning out all of the drawers, closets, etc.
Photographing

18. The Pines - Solution Numbering System Cleaning Process
Year. # Based on Object Category. Item Number
Cleaning Process
First we established clear guidelines for what we kept and what we threw away
In each room we will inventory everything, take needed pictures if item already catalogued, and update the number both in PP and on the object
Then we will proceed to go through all drawers, closets, and shelves and create new entries for those items

19. Conclusion
I am unable to report at the success of the new numbering system, but I can say it made more sense as we prepared to do more programs, rotating exhibits, and to change rooms.
Having a clear policy on what was worthy as an artifact was useful, but hard to move through management, especially as a family foundation. Broken and torn lamps, piles of old National Geographic magazines, do not fit our scope and are not worth our limited space, however.

20. Deaccessioning & Direct Care
Sarah Humes
Collections Registrar
Kalamazoo Valley Museum

21. The “D” Word-Deaccessioning
Deaccessioning is the act of permanently removing an object from the collection. It is the opposite of accessioning
Deaccessioning is Ok as long as it done legally, ethically and follows museum standards and best practices
In order to be good stewards of our collections, deaccessioning is essential

22. Deaccessioning

23. Deaccessioning
It is crucial that deaccessioning must be done with the public’s trust and confidence in mind

24. How to Create A Strong Deaccession Policy
In order to have a strong deaccession policy, you must have a strong accession policy, collection management policy and mission statement. You must know what your museum collects.
If you have a strong scope of collection it makes the decision making process for deaccessioning easier

25. How to Decide if something should be deaccessioned
no longer relevant or useful to the Museum’s mission
deteriorated beyond repair or beyond capability of museum to properly preserve
object is duplicate or redundant
more appropriately placed in another institution
object has been approved for repatriation under NAGPRA
inadequate or missing documentation/provenance that reduces historical value of object
Is a fake or forgery
harmful/hazardous to the collection and/or staff

26. Harmful/Hazardous Material
Glass Fire Grenades

27. Can the Object(s) Legally be Deaccessioned?
Title: The Museum must own clear title to object-Signed Deed of Gift
Time-How long has the object been in the collection?

28. How to Deaccession the Object(s)
Documentation-Deaccession Record
Authority: Who has the authority to deaccession?

29. Disposal-Selling At a Public Auction
The funds from the sale of deaccessioned items need to be placed in a segregated or separate identifiable account.

30. Acquisition & Direct Care
Acquisition: Replace the object with another that has relevance, importance or use to the museum’s mission
Direct Care: Invest in the existing collections by enhancing their life, usefulness or quality and thereby ensuring they will continue to benefit the public

31. AAM Matrix

32. 7 Guiding Questions Can You Answer Yes to These?
Will this investment enhance the life, usefulness or quality of an object(s)?
Is this a strategic decision based, for example, on an institutional plan, a collections care plan or a conservation assessment?
Will the expenditure have a physical impact on an item(s) in the collections?
Will this investment improve the physical condition of an item(s) in the collections rather than benefit the operation of the entire museum?
Is this decision being made without pressure resulting from financial distress at the museum or parent organization?
Is this a cost that is not normally considered part of the museum’s operating budget?
Can this decision be clearly explained to the museum’s stakeholders and the public?

33. Resources AAM White Paper -2016
collections-ethics-guidelines-and-recommendations-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=8
AASLH Blog, 8/2017
AASLH Technical Leaflet
deaccessioningabandoned-property/

34. Brian S. Jaeschke, Registrar, Mackinac State Historic Parks Samantha Engel, Historian, Dow Archives & Gardens Sarah Humes, Registrar, Kalamazoo Valley Museum