Canterbury City Council Museums and Galleries

Transcription

1 Canterbury City Council Museums and Galleries Acquisition and Disposal Policy Adopted: Date for review: 2011 Framework of the Policy Introduction 1. Existing Collections: set out for each of the City Council s Museums 2. Criteria governing future collecting policy 3. Period of time and geographical area 4. Limitations on collecting 5. Collecting Policies of other museums 6. Policy review procedure 7. Acquisitions not covered by the Policy 8. Acquisition procedures 9. Spoliation 10. Repatriation and Restitution 11. Management of Archives 12. Disposal Procedures 13. Definition of a Museum

2 Introduction: Collecting and Collections Collections are central to people s experience of Museums and Galleries. They contain the real things which have the power to connect people to their own times, or to different times. They allow them to explore not only their locality to gain a sense of place, identity and belonging, but also to discover something of the wider world and connect with the experiences of others. Objects also contribute to and reflect the collective memory of what has gone before as records of people and place - and so underpin any understanding of the present, as well as helping shape future change. Collecting is important to ensure that Museums add items which reflect the interests and concerns of their own time, and do not simply reflect or continue what has been acquired in the past. New objects enable fresh perspectives, re-interpretations or simply a wider view. But they also allow people and or events to be marked which may previously have been overlooked or disregarded. Contemporary collecting is a key function of the service, and offers exciting opportunities and challenges to empower local people in the decision making about how to represent communities and ways of life. In a fast-changing world we need grasp the opportunity to record who we are and the distinctive features which characterise us so that we can hand it on to future generations. 1. Existing Collections, including the subjects or themes for collecting: set out for each of the City s museums The Royal Museum and Art Gallery 1. The Buffs Regimental Museum: This collection has been transferred by its trustees to the ownership of the National Army Museum. The display remaining in Canterbury is now managed jointly. Acquisition and disposal policy is determined by the National Army Museum.

3 2. The T S Cooper Gallery: The collection is recognised as of national importance for the artist. It includes pictures, prints, drawings and related items given or bequeathed by the artist s family, added to by others and by the City Council with external grant-aid. To acquire further items about T S Cooper and his family and connections which help extend understanding and interpretation of the artist and his connection with Canterbury. To acquire further work by T S Cooper which helps to fill gaps and reflect his artistic interests and subjects especially those which add value with topographical views of the Canterbury area. To acquire a restricted range of work by his son Thomas George Cooper in order to fill gaps in the existing small number of items by him. 3. The Decorative Arts Galleries: The collection of decorative arts includes a fine range of English and Continental ceramics, some English glass, material brought back from the Grand Tour especially the Viscount Strangford collection of Greek marbles and ceramics, others collections from ancient Egypt, English small sculpture in stone and bronze including 3D pieces and medallions from the Renaissance through to the 20 th century, English jewellery and accessories. Canterbury and Europe is a theme of continuing interest. There are paintings from aspects of the collection: the Canterbury Pilgrims, the Cathedral, Dr Beaney bequest, and topography of the Canterbury district. Sculpture is a special interest in part because of the city s history and the existence of patrons from Roman times and especially the ready market for the cathedral, abbey, churches and other religious buildings continuing through to the later part of the 19 th century. Among locallyborn sculptors are John Frend in the 18 th century and Henry Weekes, RA in the 19 th ; while Henry Moore s time living near Canterbury was of great significance to his future direction as a sculptor. Epstein produced portrait busts of the Red Dean of Canterbury, and of Joseph Conrad both of which have recently been acquired. Canterbury s colleges currently teach sculpture.

4 1. The Service will collect to extend the English ceramic collection; but will usually only add to the Continental ceramics collection by gift, bequest or transfer. 2. The Service will collect jewellery and accessories usually only by gift, bequest or transfer. 3. The Service will continue to collect items which reflect the theme of Canterbury and links to Europe. 4. The Service will actively seek to acquire images or items which help document the cathedral and its changes over time including the internal ordering; as also for other important buildings in the district; and will add to the topographical collections. 5. The Service will not seek to add to the 19 th century collections of Greek and Egyptian material, unless through specific gifts or bequests of individual pieces which are correctly provenanced and documented with legal title, in good condition and which add to the interpretation of the existing collection. 6. The Service will collect significant or locally important works in sculpture and medallions which help extend the range of the collection and will seek to fill gaps particularly for the Victorian period. Priorities: The Service will prioritise acquisitions which develop the sculpture collection; and extend the range of the ceramics collection especially items by 20 th century and contemporary potters. 4. The Art Gallery The collection, partly on display and partly for reference in reserve, includes the De Zoete gift and bequest of English and European portraits and landscapes; the Ingram Godfrey gift of Old Master drawings by Guardi and Tiepolo and European prints including by Canaletto; various donors gifts of English watercolours, prints and drawings; and a large topographical collection documenting Canterbury, the cathedral and surrounding areas. Recent collecting themes include the work of artists connected with East Kent either by birth or association, by theme or commission. Some notable works have been acquired for example by Anthony van Dyck, Cornelius Johnson, Ben Marshall, John Opie, James Ward, Thomas Hudson, Lucien Pissarro, Walter Sickert, Laura Knight, Roger de Grey, Carel Weight, John Piper, and John Ward. A special theme of portraiture has also been adopted to establish a Canterbury Portrait Gallery collection across art forms. The Service in its immediate area has the University of Kent, Christ Church University and other University Colleges all with fine art teaching, creating special interest groups.

5 1. The Service will not seek, because of limitation on funds, to extend the Old Master drawings or European paintings collections except by gift, bequest or transfer. 2. The Service will seek to make the European print collection more comprehensive (specifically because of the college interests in print-making) by occasional purchase, but more usually only by gift, bequest and transfer. 3. The Service will actively seek to fill gaps in the English watercolour, prints and drawings collection, and will acquire further items to extend the cover of the district topographical collection. 4. The Service will actively seek to acquire work by targeted artists who have strong links to East Kent including through subject matter. 5. The Service will actively seek to acquire and document portraits of people who link to the Canterbury district, and will collect in any media which can be looked after by the Service. 6. The Service will actively seek to document targeted contemporary artists who originate from, are linked to or who work in its area, and where possible will use ICT because of the limitations of space. Priorities: The Service will prioritise acquisition of pictures by significant artists especially from contemporary times - where there is also a connection into the local area. Portraits are a development area. 5. The Natural World Parts of this collection are on display in the various museums, but the greater part is a reference collection in reserve. The strengths of the existing collection are: Pleistocene and other fossils from the local area. Fossils from outside the area which provide context, or fill gaps. Minerals and rocks. Hammond collection of British birds, with related printed catalogue and 17 volumes of watercolours by Hammond of the birds in natural settings. Bird and egg collections from local and foreign areas. Insects including butterflies which are mostly local. Fish which are mostly local including the Fordwich Trout. Shells including foreign ones.

6 The Service will continue to collect across the range of these themes, but only if the material relates to the local area and fills gaps or to provide replacement specimens. In the case of birds eggs there will be a presumption against collecting unless in addition to local relevance there is sufficient proof and documentation of collecting having taken place within current law. 6. Exploring the world in the 19 th and early 20 th centuries The Museum was founded in 1825 and benefited from the early interest in collecting items from across the world, classifying them and making them available as part of widening awareness and education. Included are the collection made by the missionary and explorer Henry Lansdell. New display contexts will be proposed for some of these items in development plans. The Service will collect information and other items which relate to these collections, the early museum or collectors and their times in order to increase understanding and interpretation. The Service will only add to these collections if there is clear connection to the existing material, or to the early museum or Collectors, or to fill gaps. The Museum of Canterbury The Museum is in the medieval Poor Priests Hospital, and tells stories of the old city from earliest times to the present day. It includes a children s wing with Bagpuss and Rupert Bear displays. Among the strong display themes at present or in preparation are: Small section on local fossils. Archaeology including the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Kent. Becket and the medieval pilgrimage. Medieval Canterbury. Medieval Poor Priests Hospital (the museum building). Tudors and Stuarts. Huguenots. Victorians. Cricket. Local industries including Tannery. Joseph Conrad. World War 2 Blitz. 20 th century ways of living. Children s characters including Bagpuss and Rupert Bear.

7 To actively acquire items which relate to the display and collecting themes of the Museum. Priorities: The Service will prioritise acquisition of items which have a direct link to Joseph Conrad; which relate to people s experience of WW2 in the Canterbury area; and which reflect everyday life across time. The Service will make efforts including through grant-aid to acquire heritage items found in the local area and offered to the Museum under the Treasure Act. The Service will work in partnership with Dover Museum on aspects of the Coal Mining project, and identify any collecting themes or material relevant to this Service. West Gate Towers The building is the last of the city s fortified gatehouses, rebuilt about It is a scheduled ancient monument and grade listed building owned by the Council and open the public. It has limited space and limited environmental controls reflected in the current displays which focus on: The building and the theme of the Defenders of Canterbury (which includes World War 2 when the gate was used as a look-out post and Special Constable station). Weapons. The building s use as a prison and part of former police station. City walls and gates. There is potential for further space to be made available in the adjoining former Police Station and its cells, and for further development of the prison theme Policy and Priorities: To acquire further material which extends the present display themes and the existing collections especially on the theme of World War 2. To take account of the future potential for a stronger prison theme, and to develop the collection/interpretation links with Canterbury Norman Castle. Herne Bay Museum and Gallery The inherited collections reflect the interests of the Herne Bay Historical Records Society, the body which formed many of the museum collections and which is the City Council s partner in providing

8 the current museum. They focused on natural history, archaeology, local topography and local memorabilia. The Service since taking on the provision of the museum has themed collecting to focus more on key aspects of the town to relate to displays. Among these are: Pleistocene, Tertiary and other fossils. Archaeology including the Roman fort and Saxon church at Reculver. The development of the 19 th century planned town. The piers, pier theatre and roller hockey. Sea-bathing, seaside holidays. Entertainment including Punch and Judy. Coastal sports and recreation including sea-angling, wind and kite surfing, coastal rowing. Wartime (both WW1 and 2) including the Barnes Wallis bouncing bomb trials at Reculver. Local topography. Local photographers including the Scrivens family. Locally linked artists including WTM Hawksworth. Oral history. To acquire further material which extends these current display and documentation themes. Priorities: The Service will prioritise acquisitions of archaeology, and other items which reflect everyday life across time. Whitstable Museum and Gallery The inherited collections came from a trust formed to set up a town museum. The Service since taking on the provision of the Museum has themed collecting to focus more on key aspects which will also differentiate this Museum from that at Herne Bay and in the other towns in the area. Among these themes are: archaeology local fossil material, including Mammoth ship building ship pictures, souvenirs from journeys, trading links Roman wreck finds from Pudding Pan Sands Graveney boat oyster cultivation and exploitation fishing including whelks

9 historic diving sea cadets salt and copperas industries seashore and estuary wildlife Blean Woods Canterbury and Whitstable Railway living by the sea, development of the town, shopping seaside holiday town, souvenirs fire brigade wartime local heroes, celebrities and links including Peter Cushing, Pip, Squeak and Wilfred, Somerset Maugham local photographers including Douglas West local topography locally linked artists including the Sherrin family oral history The Museum is also a key part of the Whitstable Maritime Heritage Strategy which will help inform future development proposals Policy and Priorities: To acquire further material which extends these current display and documentation themes. To acquire material within themes which further the aims of the Whitstable Maritime Heritage Strategy towards the museum development. 2. Criteria governing future collecting policy, including the subjects or themes for collecting The policy criteria are set out under each museum in the section headed policy. 3. Period of time and geographical area to which collecting relates Collecting covers the period of time of the existing collections, and similarly the geographical area is defined by how the policy is set in order to continue or develop particular collections or subject areas. This includes aspects of archaeology where the Canterbury Museums have had a wider collecting remit across East Kent where no other museum authority was available or able to participate. With this provision, the generality of collecting is focused on the Canterbury City Council local government district area which includes the coastal towns of Herne Bay and Whitstable and the countryside around.

10 4. Limitations on Collecting The museum recognises its responsibility, in acquiring additions to its collections, to ensure that care of collections, documentation arrangements and use of collections will meet the requirements of the Accreditation Standards. It will take into account limitations on collecting imposed by such factors as inadequate staffing, storage and care of collection arrangements. 5. Collecting Policies of Other Museums The museum will take account of the collecting policies of other museums and other organisations collecting in the same or related areas or subject fields. It will consult with these organisations where conflicts of interest may arise or to define areas of specialisms, in order to avoid unnecessary duplication and waste of resources. Museums include : Dover Museum Folkestone Museum Margate Museum Maidstone Museum Museum of Kent Life National Army Museum Others include: Canterbury Library Canterbury Archives 6. Policy Review Procedure The Acquisition and Disposal Policy will be published and reviewed from time to time, at least once every five years. The date when the policy is next due for review is noted above. The Regional Museum Council will be notified of any changes to the Acquisition and Disposal Policy, and the implications of any such changes for the future of the existing collections. 7. Acquisitions not covered by the Policy Acquisitions outside the current stated policy will only be made in very exceptional circumstances, and then only after proper consideration by the governing body of the museum itself, having regard to the interests of other museums.

11 8. Acquisition Procedures a. The museum will exercise due diligence and make every effort not to acquire, whether by purchase, gift, bequest or exchange, and object or specimen unless the Council or responsible officer is satisfied that the museum can acquire a valid title to the item in question. b. In particular, the museum will not acquire any object or specimen unless it is satisfied that the object or specimen has not been acquired in, or exported from, its country of origin (or any intermediate country in which it may have been legally owned) in violation of that country s laws. (For the purposes of this paragraph country of origin includes the United Kingdom). c. In accordance with the provisions of the UNESCO 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, which the UK ratified with effect from November , and the Dealing in Cultural Objects (Offences) Act 2003, the museum will reject any items that have been illicity traded. The Council will be guided by the national guidance on the responsible acquisition of cultural property issued by DCMS in d. So far as biological and geological material is concerned, the museum will not acquire by any direct or indirect means any specimen that has been collected, sold or otherwise transferred in contravention of any national or international wildlife protection or natural history conservation law or treaty of the United Kingdom or any other country, except with the express consent of an appropriate outside authority. e. The museum will not acquire archaeological antiquities (including excavated ceramics) in any case where the Council or responsible officer has any suspicion that the circumstances of their recovery involved a failure to follow the appropriate legal procedures, such as reporting finds to the landowner or occupier of the land and to the proper authorities in the case of possible treasure as defined by the Treasure Act 1996 (in England, Northern Ireland and Wales) or reporting finds through the treasure Trove procedure in Scotland). f. Any exceptions to the above clauses 8a, 8b, 8c, or 8e will only be because the museum is either: acting as an externally approved repository of last resort for material of local (UK) origin; or

12 acquiring an item of minor importance that lacks secure ownership history but in the best judgement of experts in the field concerned has not been illicitly traded; or acting with the permission of authorities with the requisite jurisdiction in the country of origin; or in possession of reliable documentary evidence that the item was exported from it country of origin before Spoliation The museum will use the statement of principles Spoliation of Works of Art during the Nazi, Holocaust and World War II Period, issued for the non-national museums in 1999 by the Museums and Galleries Commission. 10. Repatriation and Restitution The museum s Council, acting on the advice of the museum s professional staff, if any, may take a decision to return human remains, objects or specimens to a country or people of origin. The museum will take such decisions on a cases by case basis, within its legal position and taking into account all ethical implications. 11. Management of Archives As the museum holds archives, including photographs and printed ephemera, the Council will be guided by the Code of Practice on Archives for Museums and Galleries in the United Kingdom (3 rd ed., 2002). 12. Disposal Procedures a. By definition, the museum has a long-term purpose and should possess (or intend to acquire) permanent collections in relation to its stated objectives. The Council accepts the principle that, except for sound curatorial reasons, there is a strong presumption against the disposal of any items in the museum s collection. b. The museum will establish that it is legally free to dispose of an item. Any decision to dispose of material from the collections will be taken only after due consideration. c. When disposal of a museum object is being considered, the museum will establish if it was acquired with the aid of an external funding organisation. In such cases, and conditions attached to the original grant will be followed. This may include repayment of the original grant.

13 d. Decisions to dispose of items will not be made with the principal aim of generating funds. e. Any monies received by the museum Council from the disposal of items will be applied for the benefit of the collections. This normally means the purchase of further acquisitions but in exceptional cases improvements relating to the care of collections may be justifiable. Advice on these cases will be sought from MLA. f. A decision to dispose of a specimen or object, whether by gift, exchange, sale or destruction (in the case of an item too badly damaged or deteriorated to be of any use for the purposes of the collections), will be the responsibility of the Council of the museum acting on the advice of professional curatorial staff, if any, and not of the curator of the collection acting alone. g. Once a decision to dispose of material in the collection has been taken, priority will be given to retaining it within the public domain, unless it is to be destroyed. It will therefore be offered in the first instance, by gift, exchange or sale, directly to other Accredited museums likely to be interested in its acquisition. h. If the material is not acquired by any Accredited Museums to which it was offered directly, then the museum community at large will be advised of the intention to dispose of the material, normally through an announcement in the Museums Association s Journal, and in any other professional journals where appropriate. i. The announcement will indicate the number and nature of specimens or objects involved, and the basis on which the material will be transferred to another institution. Preference will be given to expressions of interest from other Accredited Museums. A period of at least two months will be allowed for an interest in acquiring the material to be expressed. At the end of this period, if no expressions of interest have been received, the museum may consider disposing of the material to other interested individuals and organisations. j. Full records will be kept of all decisions on disposal and the items involved and proper arrangements made for the preservation and/or transfer, as appropriate, of the documentation relating to the items concerned, including photographic records where practicable in accordance with SPECTRUM Procedure on deaccession and disposal. Definition of a Museum The Museums AND Galleries Commission (now MLA) provided this definition and its explanation to guide local authorities.

14 Museums enable people to explore collections for inspiration, learning and enjoyment. They are institutions that collect, safeguard and make accessible artefacts and specimens, which they hold in trust for society. A Collection is an organised assemblage of selected material evidence of human activity or the natural environment, accompanied by associated information. As well as objects, scientific specimens or works of art held within a museum building, a collection may include buildings or sites. Material indicates something that is tangible. Evidence indicates its authenticity as the real thing. Associated information represents the knowledge which prevents a museum object being merely a curio and also includes all records relating to its past history, acquisition and subsequent usage. Institution implies an establishment which has a formal governing instrument and a long-term purpose. Museums and collections privately owned by individuals are not eligible for Registration. Safeguarding includes undertaking conservation, security and collections management. Making accessible includes undertaking interpretation, education, exhibition, outreach, documentation, research and publication, within or outside the museum s own buildings. Documentation emphasises the obligation to maintain records. Exhibition confirms the expectation of visitors that they will be able to see at least a representative selection of objects in the collections. It also assumes that the museum will be open to the public at appropriate times and for reasonable periods of time. Collects embraces all means of acquisition. It should also imply the museum s possession of, or intention to acquire, permanent collections in relation to its stated objectives. Hold in trust for society is intended to reflect the current thinking, both within the museum profession and outside it, that museums provide a service to society by holding collections in trust and ensuring they remain within the public domain. It also implies that a museum should not be a profit-distributing organisation. ACQUISITIONS&DISPOSALPOLICY.DOC