Curator & Collector

Official First Day Terry Fox Coin

I recently learned that when a museum accessions a piece, it gives it a number, for example, 2003.4.3.2. The 2003 would refer to the year that a piece was acquired by the museum, the 4 would indicate that this was the fourth accession of that year, while the next number would note that this is the third object within this accession. The 2 would refer to the number of constituent parts the item has. I am pleased to see that at least one collections manager thinks as I first thought: that a simple number, beginning with 1 and working upwards, would be sufficient.

Some within the museum industry see the term “acquisition” as denoting only the transfer of legal title to an object to the museum. The “accession” of the object then follows when it is catalogued. Most institutions will occasionally accept items, without necessarily entering them into their actual collections records. Thus, these objects can remain uncatalogued and otherwise undocumented. This can be done so as not to upset donors when their pieces are not really worthy of display.

I recently donated the small, inexpensive (less than $30) but representative item above to a local museum (which is not connected with the person mentioned above). The museum in question is the BC Sports Hall of Fame, and the Official First Day Terry Fox coin is for their Terry Fox exhibit.* (Incidentally, Terry Fox, who was recently ranked the Greatest Canadian by a citizen’s poll, is the first and so far only identifiable Canadian to be depicted on a Canadian coin). Unfortunately, the museum is undergoing renovations and will not re-open until next year. I signed a form stating that I owned the piece, was given a record of my donation, and was told that my piece would be on display when the institution reopened its doors next year. Those wanting to know more can visit this post from over a year ago for background.

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I am not a sports-oriented person at all, but I liked the exhibits on Rick Hansen and Terry Fox in this museum when I visited it last year. These two heroes are an inspiration to all, and it was on that basis that I made my little donation.