Curator & Collector

In Things Great and Small — Collections Management Policies, chapter 2 “Compiling Collections Management Policies,” John E. Simmons gives an overview of how museums and galleries can establish collections management policies. For obvious reasons, Timmons cautions against merely copying another institution’s policies; Timmons then recommends that the language to be used in the policy manual adhere to standard professional usage. That is to say, artefacts, objects, and specimens are the terms that are likely to be used by, respectively, anthropological museums, art and history institutions, and scientific institutions. Timmons then lays out an eight-step procedure that begins with choosing the writing team (a team, not an individual), proceeds through review, feedback, governance endorsement, and then finishes with periodic revision. Perhaps the most valuable aspect of the article, though, is the two page chart showing a rather exhaustive list of topics the policy document could contain. Topics to be included include everything from the identifying of the scope of the collection, to collections care and risk management.