Beloit College
MUST 275—Spring 2006
INTRODUCTION TO COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT
Location: Godfrey 103
Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:00 p.m. – 2:50 p.m.
Instructor: Nicolette Meister, Curator of Collections, Logan Museum of Anthropology
Contact information: ext. 2305; meistern@beloit.edu
Office: Godfrey 106
Office hours are available Monday through Friday 8:30a.m. – 5:30p.m. by appointment.
Teaching Assistant: Patti Lord
Contact information: ext. 4615; lordp@stu.beloit.edu
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course will serve as an introduction to the methods of museum collections
management, registration, and preservation. Stress is placed on the nature of organic and
inorganic materials and their deterioration, methods of preventive preservation, modes of
acquisition and registration, collections policy, and legal and ethical issues affecting the
management of museum collections. The course will consist of lectures, museum
laboratory experience, guest lectures, and field excursions to regional museums.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Attendance and participation are required and will count toward your final grade. Three
unexcused absences will drop your grade by half a letter (A to A-). Completion of the
following is required (400 available points):
 Mid-term exam—100 points
 Final exam—100 points
 Object Study research paper—100 points
 Accession/Deaccession Proposal—50 points
 Collections Management Poster—50 points
REQUIRED TEXTS
Buck, Rebecca A. and Jean Allman Gillmore (editors). 1998. The New Museum
Registration Methods. American Association of Museums. (Abbreviated as
NMRM on reading list.)
A reading packet of select articles, essays, and technical reports will be made available
for purchase.
LAB FEE
A $25.00 lab fee is required. The fee is used to off-set the cost of museum field
excursions, lab supplies, and honoraria for guest lectures.
GRADING:
Letter Grade
Points needed
Percentage
A
380
95%
A368
92%
B+
356
89%
B
340
85%
B328
82%
C+
316
79%
C
300
75%
C288
72%
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MUST 275: INTRODUCTION TO COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT
SPRING 2006 SYLLABUS
Date:
Tues. 1/17
Thurs. 1/19
Tues. 1/24
Thurs. 1/26
Topic:
Course overview and expectations
Introduce Object Study project
Tours: Know Your Museums,
behind-the-scenes tour LMA and
WMA
Workshop: Museum
Professionalism
Bring draft of cv/resume and
cover letter to work on in class
Lecture: Handling and Hazardous
Materials in Museums
Tues. 1/31
Lecture: Preventive Conservation,
Agents of Deterioration, and
Mitigation of Agents of
Deterioration in Storage
Thurs. 2/2
Lecture & Lab: Preservation of
Organic Materials
Readings:
Read online history of LMA and WMA
http://www.beloit.edu/~museum//
“Museum Professional Positions.” Museums: A Place
to Work (1996).
“Some Thoughts About Training New People for the
Museum Profession(s).” ACUMG Proceedings
(2003).
“Reconsidering the Curator.” Museum News,
March/April (2001).
NMRM pp.45-48.
“Rules for Handling Works of Art.” Care of
Collections (1992).
“Handling Archival Documents and Manuscripts.”
Conserve O Gram, 19/17 (1996).
Read Oh No! Ethnobotany web site:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~kubi0029/OhNoEthnobotany.
htm
“Hazardous Materials in Your Collection.” Conserve
O Gram, 2/10 (1998).
“Historical Survey of the Sources of Contamination of
Ethnographic Materials in Museum Collections.”
Collection Forum, 16(1-2) (2001).
“Understanding the Hazards,” “Guidelines for
Handling Contaminated Museum Objects,” and
“Personal Protection Equipment Guidelines.” Old
Poisons, New Problems (2005).
NMRM pp. 103-119
“Agents of Deterioration” and “Conservation: The
Control of the Agents of Deterioration.” A
Systematic Approach to the Conservation (Care) of
Museum Collections (1992).
“Appendix I&II” and “Storage Equipment.” Storage of
Natural History Collections, Vol. 1 (1995).
Chapters 13, 14, 18, and 25. Caring for
American Indian Objects (2004).
“Composite Objects: Materials and Storage
Conditions.” Conservation Concerns (1992).
“Objects of Mixed Media.” Guide to Environmental
Protection of Collections (1991).
“An Introduction to Paper Conservation.” The Deeper
Picture (1998).
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Date:
Tues. 2/7
Thurs. 2/9
Tues. 2/14
Thurs. 2/16
Topic:
Lecture & Lab: Preservation of
Inorganic Materials
Guest Lecture: Jackie Hoff,
Registrar and Head of Collections
and Tilly Laskey, Assistant
Curator and Collections Manager
for Ethnology, Science Museum of
Minnesota
Object Study outline and
bibliography due
Lecture & Lab: Condition Reports
Draft object study label due
Lecture & Lab: Exhibit
Conservation and Archival
Materials
Tues. 2/21
Lab: Mount-Making for
Collections Storage
Thurs. 2/23
Lecture & Lab: Environmental
Monitoring & IPM
Tues. 2/28
Thurs. 3/2
Final object study label due
Field Excursion: The Field
Museum of Natural History;
behind-the-scenes tour
Object Study paper due
Object Conversations exhibit
opens
Mid-Term Exam
Readings:
Chapters 15-17, 21, 22 Caring for American Indian
Objects (2004).
“Caring for Metal Collections in Museums.” Scottish
Museum Council (2003).
Visit SMM collections web site:
http://www.smm.org/research/Collections/
NMRM pp. 53-60.
“Ethnographic Collections,” “Paper,” and “Textiles”
SERA Basic Condition Reporting (1998).
“Condition Reporting—Paintings, Part I & II.” CCI
Notes, 10/6 (1994).
Chapter 11, Caring for American Indian Objects
(2004).
“Sharing the Responsibility for Preservation.”
Exhibitionist, Vol. 20, No. 2 (2001).
“Safe Plastics and Fabrics for Exhibits and Storage.”
Conserve O Gram, 18/2 (2004).
“The Use of A-D Strips for Screening Conservation
and Exhibits Material.” AIC (1996).
“Buffered and Unbuffered Storage Materials.”
Conserve O Gram, 4/9 (1995).
Mount-making for Museum Objects. CCI (1998).
“Tray and Box Construction,” “Recessed Support for
Fragile Specimens,” and “Internal Supports for
Pliable Artifacts.” Storage of Natural History
Collections, Vol. 2 (1995).
“Environmental Monitoring.” Storage of Natural
History Collection, Vol. 1 (1995).
“Integrated Pest Management in Museums” and
“Insect Pests.” Pest Management in Museums,
Archives and Historic Houses (2001).
Visit Field Museum web site:
http://www.fieldmuseum.org/
Study session to be scheduled by TA.
3
Date:
3/6-3/10
Tues. 3/14
Thurs. 3/16
Tues. 3/21
Thurs. 3/23
Tues. 3/28
Topic:
Spring Break
Readings:
Lecture: Acquisitions, Accessions,
and Deaccessions
NMRM pp. 157-176.
“The Deaccession Cookie Jar.” A Deaccession Reader
(1998).
“Should Museums Capitalize Their Collections?”
Museum News, Jan/Feb (2004).
Introduce Accession/Deaccession
“Death By Ethics.” Museum News, Nov/Dec (2005).
Proposal project
Lecture & Lab: Registration
NMRM pp. 1-15; 49-52.
Methods
Introduction to Vocabularies (1998). The Getty
Information Institute. Chapters 2-4.
Lecture and Demonstration:
NMRM pp. 17-40.
Computerization. Demo of
“Questions/Discussions from the WEB.” Newsletter of
PastPerfect Museum Software
the Midwest Registrars Committee, Fall (1999).
Lecture: Collections Policy,
“Legal and Ethical Foundations of Museum Collecting
Planning, and Ethics
Policies.” In: UWM-Seminar, Institute for Legal and
Ethical Issues (2000).
“Guidelines for Developing Policies for the
Management and Care of Natural History
Collections.” Collections Forum, 9/2 (1993).
“Collections Planning.” Museum News (2002).
“A Higher Standard: AAM’s Accreditation
Program…” Museum News (2001).
Lecture & Lab: Marking Museum NMRM pp. 65-93.
Objects
Thurs. 3/30
Lecture: Use of Collections and
Loans
Tues. 4/4
Workshop: Collection Storage
Rehousing. Patti Lord, TA.
Thurs. 4/6
Accession/Deaccession Proposal
presentations
In class presentations.
Tues. 4/11
Field Excursion: Beloit Historical
Society
Visit BHS web site: http://www.ticon.net/~beloiths/
Thurs. 4/13
Accession/Deaccession Proposal
presentations
In class presentations.
Tues. 4/18
Lecture: Museum Legal Issues
Thurs. 4/20
Introduce Collections
Management poster project
Field Excursion: Milwaukee
Public Museum; behind-the-scenes
tour
NMRM pp. 281-300; 303-337.
“Museums, Antiquities, Cultural Property, and the US
Legal Framework for Making Acquisitions.” In:
Who Owns the Past? (2005).
Visit MPM web site: http://www.mpm.edu/
NMRM pp. 177-206.
4
Date:
Tues. 4/25
Topic:
Lecture: NAGPRA and
Collections Management and
Cultural Sensitivity
Film: Return of the Sacred Pole
Thurs. 4/27
Guest Lecture: Nazi-Era
Provenance Research. Judy
Newland, Wright Museum of Art.
Tues. 5/3
Last day of class
Sat. 4/6
Collections Management poster
presentations
Final Exam 2:00-5:00 p.m.
Readings:
“The Native American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act Background and Legislative
History.” Repatriation Reader (2000).
“NAGPRA Artifact Repatriation and Pesticides
Contamination: The Hopi Experience.” Collection
Forum, 17/1-2 (2001).
“Merging Traditional Indigenous Curation Methods
with Modern Museum Standards of Care.” Museum
Anthropology, 25/1 (2001).
“Preserving Conceptual Integrity: Ethnics and Theory
in Preventive Conservation.” International Institute
for Conservation (1994).
“Art and the Nazi Terror.” Museums and the Holocaust
(2000).
“Introduction” and “Historical Overview.” The AMM
Guide to Provenance Research (2001).
Study session to be scheduled by TA.
Disabilities: If you have a disability and would like to speak to someone about possible accommodations,
please visit the LSSC (Learning Support Services Center) located on the first floor of 635 College St. You
will need to provide appropriate documentation of your disability to Diane Arnzen, Director of the LSSC.
If you wish to receive accommodations please provide me the LSSC Accommodation Verification Letter
dated for this semester as soon as possible so your learning needs may be appropriately met.
Writing Center: Resources offered by the Writing Center can be of great assistance when writing papers
for this class. You can make appointments (x2162) to work collaboratively with a tutor on all steps &
aspects of your writing. You can also go to their website (www.beloit.edu/~writingc) to learn more about
working with a tutor or to access TurtleWax, the online resource with information on everything from
grammar to using sources.
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