David,
I suppose the first
consideration is which department has jurisdiction over the object. If only
one department is responsible (for making decisions about acquiring, lending,
or deaccessioning), then that would be the “Department” field in
the Objects module.
If this is not the case, and if
two (or more?) departments lay claim to such decisions, then how do you
indicate whose decision trumps whom?
Christine
Christine Droll
Collections
Database Administrator
The
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
4525 Oak Street
Kansas City,
MO 64111-1873
t: 816.751.1333
f: 816.751.0499
From: The Museum System
(TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Aylsworth,
David
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 10:34 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Crossing Department lines
I imagine that there are a other museums that are in our
situation and I’d be curious how many of you feel it is a problem, or how
you deal with it.
Our museum has a lot of curatorial departments that have a
lot of crossover between them. Some of them are time based (Antiquities,
Modern & Contemporary), others are culture based (Latin American, American,
European, Asian), others are media based (Prints & Drawings, Photography,
Film & Video), and we’ve now added one that is religion based
(Islamic).
Objects in the Islamic department are also Asian or
Antiquities. Our Asian department collects not only traditional woodblock
prints and the like, but also contemporary photographs, videos, and
sculptures—sometimes by the same artists collected by the Photography and
Modern & Contemporary department. Our Latin American department
collects prints, drawings, contemporary paintings, and videos. This list
could go on and on.
I don’t want to discourage the cross-department
collecting, but while the curators are only really concerned about their most
recent acquisitions, I’m concerned that twenty years from now, it’s
going to be strange why the same artist has works that look identical in
different departments. Am I being too uptight about this? Does
anyone have any similar situation or thoughts?
I’d appreciate hearing any comments any of you have.
Thanks,
David
David Aylsworth
Collections Registar
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
tel: 713-639-7824
fax: 713-639-7780