Acquisitions and Disposals Policy

 

ACQUISITIONS AND DISPOSALS POLICY

FOR THE YEARS 2003 TO 2008

SEPTEMBER 2001    AMENDED APRIL 2003

Brixham Heritage Museum hereby publishes its policy in relation to the acquisition and disposal of its collections.

ACQUISITIONS

  1. Brixham Heritage Museum and History Society has adopted in full the Museums Association’s recommended Codes of Practice for Museum Authorities and Governing Bodies. These are reflected in the following policy statements.

  2. Brixham Heritage Museum’s acquisitions and disposals policy will be published and reviewed at least once every five years. It will next be reviewed and republished in the year 2008. Acquisitions and disposals outside the current stated policy will only be made in exceptional circumstances, and then only after proper consideration by the Executive Committee of the Society, having regard to the interests of other museums.

  3. Brixham Heritage Museum seeks to illustrate the history and locality of Brixham and its environs. It will accept only items that illustrate or have direct relevance to this theme. In view of the importance of Brixham’s shipbuilding and fishing industries, its harbour, and of the Museum’s existing maritime collections, a special emphasis will be given to collecting objects relating to Brixham’s maritime past, and to objects that supplement the existing collections, as described below.

  4. Any item offered that does not conform to the above general policy may be recommended for offer to other museums. Brixham Heritage Museum’s intention is that its collecting policy shall complement those of Torquay Museum and Torre Abbey and recognises that certain items offered to it may be more appropriately housed in these museums or in other registered museums. In such an event, the future of such items will be discussed with the relevant parties, having regard also to any particular request by the donor.

  5. In addition to objects (artefacts) Brixham Heritage Museum holds and intends to acquire archival materials specifically related to Brixham’s past, and comprising documents, photographs and printed ephemera. Archival items offered to the Museum, which either have no direct association with Brixham or else require specialist conservation and storage measures for their safe keeping (not currently available at Brixham Heritage Museum) will be redirected to other more appropriate museums or to the relevant County Record Office. Advice on this matter will be sought from the Devon Record Office.

  6. Brixham Heritage Museum will not acquire, whether by purchase, gift, bequest or exchange, any work of art or object, or archival material, unless the governing body or responsible officer is satisfied that the Museum can acquire a valid title to the specimen in question, and that in particular it 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 purpose of this paragraph “country of origin” includes the United Kingdom.)

  7. In the early days of the Museum, many items were accepted as loans in order quickly to build up the collection. Where the donors have died, the policy of accepting loans has sometimes created problems. As a consequence, the Society will not accept new loans, except on a longer-term basis, and except, for example, for inclusion in special exhibitions. Many short-term loans have been returned, although some long and indefinite term loans remain among the collections. These will be converted, as soon as is practicable, into fixed period loans of not less than three years.

  8. 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.g. a British court in the case of a specimen seized from a third party under the Protection of Birds Acts).

  9. So far as archaeological antiquities (including excavated ceramics) are concerned, in addition to the safeguards mentioned above, the Museum will not acquire by purchase objects in any case where the governing body or responsible officer has reasonable cause to believe that the circumstances of their recovery involved the recent unscientific or intentional destruction, or damage of ancient monuments or other known archaeological site, or involved a failure to disclose the finds to the owner or occupier of the land, or to the proper authorities in the case of a possible Treasure Trove.

DISPOSALS

  1. Brixham Heritage Museum (like any other museum by definition) has a long-term purpose and will continue to possess and acquire substantial permanent collections in relation to its stated objectives. The Society accepts the principle that there is a strong presumption against the disposal of items in the Museum’s collection except as set out below.

  2. In those cases where the Museum is legally free to dispose of an item (if this is in doubt, legal advice will be sought) it is agreed that any decision to sell or otherwise dispose of material from the collections will be taken only after due consideration. Decisions to dispose of items will not be made with the principal aim of generating funds. Once a decision to dispose of an item has been taken, priority will be given to retaining the item within the public domain and with this in view it will be offered first, by exchange, gift or sale, to Registered museums before disposal to other interested individuals or organisations is considered.

  3. In cases in which an arrangement for the exchange, gift or private treaty sale of material is not being made with an individual museum, the museum community at large will be advised of the intention to dispose of material. This shall normally be through an announcement in the Museums Association’s Museums Journal. The announcement will indicate the number of specimens involved, the prime objects concerned and the basis on which the material will be transferred to another institution. A period of at least two months will be allowed for an interest in acquiring the material to be expressed.

  4. A decision to dispose of a specimen or work of art, whether by exchange, sale, gift or destruction (in the case of an item too badly damaged or deteriorated to be of any use for the purpose of the collections), will only be taken at a meeting of the Society’s Executive Committee, acting on the advice of professional curatorial staff, and not just Brixham Heritage Museum’s Management Team acting in isolation. Full records will be kept of all such decisions and the items involved, and proper arrangements made for the preservation and/or transfer, as appropriate, of the documentation relating to the object concerned, including photographic records where practicable.

  5. Any monies received by the Society from the disposal of items will be applied for the benefit of the Museum collections. This will normally mean the purchase of other exhibits for the collections, but in exceptional cases improvements relating to the care of existing collections may be justifiable. Advice on these cases will be sought from SWMLAC or other appropriate museum authorities.

  6. Where a museum object has been acquired with the aid of an external funding organisation, permission from that organisation will be sought before the object is de-accessioned or transferred to another museum. If the object is sold, repayment of the original grant may be required.

For further policy information, please contact the Museum Curator Dr. Philip L. Armitage.