[Nhcoll-l] Educational collections

[Kirsten Nicholson]

I would be very interested in hearing responses to Rodrigo's post.

Rodrigo, we are a museum of cultural and natural history, and have a strong
museum studies program that uses the museum as a laboratory for its minor
program. I'm planning to revise our policies as well, as we have a strong
teaching component to our museum and I have the sense that more of our
program is dedicated to teaching than may be true of other museums (I may
be wrong about this, I'm gathering information on this now). I'm really
curious to see what you come up with and would perhaps like to talk to you
more directly about how you develop your policy.

We have two types of "teaching" collections, ones that are/were developed
specifically for teaching courses on campus (the usual "-ologies"), and
what we call a "loaning" collection that is heavily utilized by local K-12
schools. The loaning collection is largely made up of fairly common species
that are easily replenished when specimens are damaged beyond use
(replenished via our salvage permits, road kills, bird window suicides,
etc.). The loaning collection is comprised of study skins and mounts, while
the teaching collections are largely study skins, although for some species
we bring in mounts, especially if they are uncommon in our collections.

Because of our teaching focus, there are some species for which we only
have one or a very few specimens, and while they are formally listed as
part of permanent ("research") collections, they are still earmarked to be
used in classes on campus, although following special handling (they are
trotted out for that day's lab/class, usually put back in the collections
afterwards, can be requested for viewing by students of the class with
observation). I made this policy decision because otherwise most of these
specimens really go unused, and our students gain tremendously from
studying them.

Anyway, just a few thoughts from here; looking forward to hearing more of
what you hear!

Cheers,

Kirsten


On Thu, Apr 3, 2014 at 1:59 PM, Pellegrini, Rodrigo <
Rodrigo.Pellegrini at sos.state.nj.us> wrote:

> Hello everyone,
>
>
>
> The NJSM is tightening its collection policies and records, and the issue
> of our educational collection came up. We're a multi-specialty museum, with
> 4 collecting bureaus: Archeology/Ethnography, Natural History, Cultural
> History and Fine Arts.
>
> Only Archeology/Ethnography and Natural History have educational
> collections, and I've been asked to formalize a policy for them (with the
> understanding that most objects in these collections are to be handled
> multiple times on a daily basis by visitors, and we expect them to
> deteriorate in the process).
>
> I recall a similar discussion/question in this list serve a few months
> ago, but I can't remember or find any finished policies being posted.
>
> Would anybody whose institutions have drafted a collections policy for
> their "hands-on" educational collections kindly send me a copy for review?
>
> I would also be very interested in any comments and suggestions you may
> have regarding the subject and formalizing it. It is my understanding that
> since these objects are expected to deteriorate, most institutions
> (certainly all I have ever worked for) have treated them informally (no
> real museum records kept save for an inventory).
>
>
>
> Thank you all for your time.
>
> Regards,
>
>
>
> Rod
>
>
>
>
>
> [image: NH Logo - Small]
>
> Rodrigo Pellegrini, MA, MS
> Registrar, Natural History Bureau
> New Jersey State Museum
> 205 W. State St.
>
> PO Box 530
> Trenton, NJ 08625-0530
> USA
>
> Voice: (609) 292-5615 (office)
>        (609) 826-3924 (laboratory)
>        (609) 826-5449 (storage)
> Fax: (609) 292-7636
> E-mail: Rodrigo.Pellegrini at sos.state.nj.us
> Website: www.newjerseystatemuseum.org
>
> Blog: http://njstatemuseum.blogspot.com/
>
>
>
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>
>


-- 
Kirsten E. Nicholson, Ph.D






*Assoc. Prof. Biology          and       Curator of Natural HistoryDept. of
Biology                             Museum of Cultural and Natural
History217 Brooks Hall                            103 Rowe HallCentral
Michigan Univ.                 Central Michigan University Mt. Pleasant, MI
48859                 Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859989-774-3758
             989-774-3829*
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