[Nhcoll-l] [External] Policies regarding "internal loan" of specimens for exhibit

Fri May 12 05:42:22 EDT 2023

I concur with Mariana - that is our preferred practice. As Rob Waller says, "Collections not used are useless."  That said, exhibition use is outside the norm for research specimens/objects. We prefer to do condition assessments for internal loans to help monitor the inevitable damage that occurs to both longevity and possibly, scientific utility as a result of exhibition.

Cathy

Catharine Hawks
Conservator
Collections Program
MRC 170 Rm M85-J
National Museum of Natural History
10th Street & Constitution Ave NW
Washington DC 20560
w 202.633.0835 or 4041  c 703 200 4370
hawksc at si.edu<mailto:hawksc at si.edu>

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From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> On Behalf Of Mariana Di Giacomo
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2023 6:39 PM
To: Opitz, Cindy E <cindy-opitz at uiowa.edu>
Cc: NHCOLL-new <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] [External] Policies regarding "internal loan" of specimens for exhibit

External Email - Exercise Caution
Hi Andy,

I'm not going to comment on the collections management/registrarial side of things because I'm not the appropriate person to do so and you already have great responses, but I'll say a small thing from the conservation standpoint. At the Yale Peabody Museum, we've implemented the policy that every time an object/specimen is going on exhibit or coming back (both internally within YPM or on loan either to Yale or external) it gets a condition report. It is a great way to monitor the object, see if it needs work, check if it has specific requirements of lighting, temperature and relative humidity, or realize if it gets damaged during exhibition. This is very valuable information for documentation purposes but also for future research of the items in question.

Best,
Mariana

Mariana Di Giacomo, PhD
Natural History Conservator, Yale Peabody Museum
Associate Editor, Collection Forum, SPNHC
Secretary/Communications APOYOnline

On Thu, May 11, 2023, 15:37 Opitz, Cindy E <cindy-opitz at uiowa.edu<mailto:cindy-opitz at uiowa.edu>> wrote:
We loan materials from the collection department to the exhibition department and education department. Having a loan form for these uses of specimens helps with tracking specimen locations as well as specimen use.

Cindy Opitz (she/her)
Director of Research Collections
Museum of Natural History and Old Capitol Museum
Instructor, Museum Studies Certificate Program
The University of Iowa
11 Macbride Hall, Iowa City, Iowa 52242
Office: 319.335.0481
cindy-opitz at uiowa.edu<mailto:cindy-opitz at uiowa.edu>
mnh.uiowa.edu,<https://mnh.uiowa.edu/> oldcap.uiowa.edu<https://oldcap.uiowa.edu/>
[cid:image001.png at 01D98416.0B602EA0]

From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu>> On Behalf Of Monaghan, Nigel
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2023 12:01 PM
To: Bentley, Andrew Charles <abentley at ku.edu<mailto:abentley at ku.edu>>; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] [External] Policies regarding "internal loan" of specimens for exhibit

Andy

We ban 'internal loan' as a concept within our museum on the basis that the collections do not belong to departments or curators but to the institution as a whole. Discussion takes place between curators to agree suitable exhibits, conservators advise, and we simply update 'current location' in the database.

Nigel

Mr Nigel T. Monaghan,
c/o National Museum of Ireland,
Merrion Street,
Dublin 2,
IRELAND

Mr Nigel T. Monaghan
National Museum of Ireland - Natural History
Merrion Street
Dublin D02 F627
Ireland
________________________________
From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu>> on behalf of Bentley, Andrew Charles <abentley at ku.edu<mailto:abentley at ku.edu>>
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2023 4:50:00 PM
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu> <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>>
Subject: [External] [Nhcoll-l] Policies regarding "internal loan" of specimens for exhibit

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Hi all

I am interested in anyone who may be able to share policies from your organization that govern "internal loan" of specimens for exhibit purposes in your institution.  We are increasingly seeing more material on exhibit which is a positive step but need to formalize our process of making those specimens available and the conditions associated with their display.

Thanks in advance,

Andy

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Andy Bentley
Ichthyology Collection Manager
University of Kansas
Biodiversity Institute

Dyche Hall
1345 Jayhawk Boulevard
Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561
USA

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