Thanks Christine,
This is, I guess, a larger part
of the problem. We don’t really have clear cut boundaries on these
sorts of things. Great latitude is given to departments to collect things
that they think are good for the collection. (I’m not convinced
that they actually know the comprehensive collection well enough before they
say that they need something else, but that’s another story..) Often,
though, the departments will work together to acquire things. When it
comes time to approve loans or deaccessions, it gets a little dicey and we’re
often at pains to find out who does make those decisions. For the first
few years after an acquisition, the curator who brought it in is very
territorial…. Years later, or if the staff changes, they are less so.
The issue really has come to a
head lately when we get new curators who want to, understandably, get a handle
on what their collection is that they are responsible for. I can’t
really bring up a definitive list out of TMS by department for them, and I get
defrocked as the sham of a database administrator wannabe I am.
I’m toying with the idea
of suggesting that we set up TMS departments that follow strict guidelines, and
trying to make the curators realize that when they collect certain things, they
are acting in another department. That falls apart, though, when the
Latin American department wants to get a handle on the things they have
acquired in the last five years, and a great number of them are prints or
photographs.
David
From: The Museum System
(TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Christine
Droll
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 11:19 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Crossing Department lines
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