ACQUISITIONS AND DISPOSAL
POLICY
CHELMSFORD MUSEUMS
NOVEMBER 2005
(revised January 2008)
Chelmsford Museums Acquisitions & Disposals Policy
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Acquisition and Disposal Policy
Museums : Chelmsford Museum and Essex Regiment Museum
Governing Body: Chelmsford Borough Council
Date approved by governing body: 15 November 2005, revisions approved 4th
December 2007
Date at which policy due for review: November 2010
1. Existing collections, including the subjects or themes for collecting
Chelmsford Museum was founded in 1835 by the Chelmsford Philosophical Society. A small,
but significant, part of the collection dates from the Victorian holdings. Below are listed the
strengths, displays and reserve collections of the main represented subject areas.
1.1.
Archaeology
Excavation archives are held for Chelmsford (Town and District), Brentwood District,
and Billericay Roman Town. Earlier material was gathered in the Victorian period by
the Chelmsford Philosophical Society, and in the 1950s by the Roman Essex Society and
the Essex Archaeological Society.
The displays at Chelmsford Museum are featured in The Story of Chelmsford exhibition.
The archaeology store is designated by English Heritage as having ‘approved status’.
The collections include (of local/regional significance):
Prehistoric material culture, Bronze Age hoards, 2 gold Bronze Age bracelets
the Roman Town at Moulsham (Caesaromagus), including a hoard of nationally
significant jet jewellery on loan
the Roman religious site at Ivy Chimneys, Witham
the Roman Villas at Chignall St James and Great Holts Farm, Boreham
Late Saxon wooden dug-out canoe
the medieval Motte and Bailey Castle at Pleshey
King John’s Hunting lodge at Writtle
the Dominican Friary at Moulsham
the medieval tile kiln at Danbury
ten medieval rood screen paintings of saints from Latchingdon Church.
post medieval material from the dredgings of the Rivers Can and Chelmer (eg pewter)
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1.2.
Numismatics
The collections include :
Several recent hoards of gold Celtic coinage from Great Leighs, Great Waltham, and the
parish of Great Waltham (including two supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund).
Nationally significant.
Hoard of 16 late Roman gold solidi from Good Easter, including a coin of Constantine III
Roman and medieval coinage
A comprehensive type series of English coinage from 1760 on display
Good collection of Essex tokens 17th and 18th centuries, including the Chingford
Society’s Chainey Collection, on display (regionally significant)
Paranumismatica
Commemorative medals
Bank notes (British and rest of world)
Rest of world coinage (no longer actively collected)
1.3.
The art collection
Displays of the art collection are fairly limited in Chelmsford Museum, and concentrate
on the glass and ceramics rooms, and a number of changing corridor displays. In
addition, there is an opportunity to show works of art as part of the changing
Temporary Exhibition programme. Larger works are displayed on the staircase, and at
Hylands House. Relevant works of art are acquired from auction with grant aid; recent
examples include 2 oils of Juliana Waltersdorff, Wife of an owner of Hylands House, by
the Danish master, Jens Juel.
Important local topography and other pictures are also displayed in the post medieval
section of the Story of Chelmsford exhibition, and include an oil portrait of John
Johnson, the Georgian County Surveyor; the Shire Hall, by P Reinagle; and Chelmsford
from Springfield Hill, by J Colkett.
Strengths of the decorative art collections are: the Tunstill bequest of eighteenthcentury English drinking glasses which includes many rare and unusual pieces from this
varied period. Nationally significant.
The Ceramics collections include Seventeenth and Eighteenth century tinglaze dishes;
nineteenth century Castle-Hedingham ware, the Essex Art Pottery made by Edward
Bingham and his family in North Essex. It is possibly the largest number of this pottery
on public display, and some of the items are exceptionally large too: the 25" (63.5cm)
diameter "De Vere" dish of 1901 is heavily ornamented, while a 30" (77.4cm) high vase
is decorated with Roman soldiers and captives. Modern ceramics are represented with
a substantial body of work by Joanna Constantinidis (1927-2000) of contrasting austere
serenity, and a recent purchase of ‘The Chelmsford Sissies’ pot by Grayson Perry.
Nationally significant.
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The fine art collection shows pictures of the Chelmsford area and wider in Essex, from
the eighteenth to twentieth centuries. It also has interesting work by well-known Essex
twentieth century artists such as Edward Bawden, John Nash, Michael Rothenstein, John
Aldridge, showing their design and illustration work as well as their paintings, and
Lynton Lamb, who was better known as a designer and illustrator than as a painter.
Regionally significant.
Contemporary works collected under an earlier collecting policy includes pictures by
Maggi Hambling.
1.4.
Social History (locally significant)
The Museum's social history collection covers many aspects of community, domestic
and personal life both in objects and printed documents. It includes a large collection of
costume, the earliest item being a 17th century woman’s shoe found hidden in a
building. The bulk of the costume collection dates from the 19th and 20th centuries.
The key item in the collection is a very fine man's metal-thread embroidered woollen
coat from about 1705, which has been known in the past as 'The King's Coat'. A key
collection of costume is one that belonged to Rebecca Shaen of Crix, Hatfield Peverel
which includes shoes, boots and dresses from 1790 through to the 1850s. The Shaen
family were friends of novelist Elizabeth Gaskell and were involved in causes such as
Chartism and the establishment of working mens clubs. There are two 2 embroideries
- an 18th century still life by Mrs Mary Knowles and the early 19th century embroidery
showing a balloon over Chelmsford Church.
Another key strength is the medical collection, most of it dating from the 19th century
and including amputation, Clyster, enema and cupping sets. The collection which
belonged to militant local suffragette, Grace Chappelow, is small but important - a
certificate signed by Emmeline Pankhurst, a knife and cup from Holloway Prison, a
miniature hammer, 2 suffragette badges and a postcard of Grace holding a suffragette
placard. The collection of clocks and watches includes items sold by Chelmsford
watchmakers such as the Hunsdon family, Thomas Spencer, Joseph Greenhow and
William Loveday.
The toy collection is small but includes some significant local items - a block puzzle
which was a present to a child in 1884, an early 20th century game with a stamp for
Fred Spalding's toyshop in Chelmsford, a wax fashion doll owned by a Spalding child and
a 19th century rag doll made and owned in Great Baddow.
The archive relating to the history of the Museum dates from 1828 to the present day.
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1.5.
Industrial collections
Collections represent a wide range of Chelmsford's industries including trades and crafts
(including the contents of a local forge), agriculture and agricultural processing, but with
a main emphasis on the three key Chelmsford firms of national and international
significance - Crompton, Britain's first electrical engineers; Hoffmann, Britain's first
specialist manufacturers of rolling bearings; and Marconi, who opened the world's first
radio factory in Chelmsford in 1899. Key items include an early Hoffmann ball lathe, an
1890s Crompton arc lamp, lamp standard, motor generators and electrical instruments.
Marconi collections are a special feature, and include a coherer receiver made at the
Hall Street factory in Chelmsford. Key examples of the products of the New Street
factory and other sites in Chelmford are a large self-tuning transmitter, a range of
receivers from the 1940s to 1960s, a range of Marconi TV cameras, domestic receivers
and a nationally significant collection of marine radio and radar equipment. There are
substantial collections of product photographs, firm’s publications and equipment
manuals.
The collection also include the wooden army hut which housed radio station 2MT
Writtle, source, in 1922, of Britain's first regular radio programmes, and thus of national
significance.
The larger items are displayed, in open storage, at Sandford Mill.
1.6.
Natural History
The museum holds extensive and varied natural science collections, both in natural
history and earth sciences. The large fossil collections are rich in Jurassic, Cretaceous,
Eocene, Pliocene and Pleistocene material, some of which feature in the Ice Ages section
of the Story of Chelmsford exhibition at Chelmsford Museum. There are smaller but fine
rock and mineral collections too, including locally and regionally significant material.
The museum holds the complete natural history collections of past local people like
Hope and Dr Salter, the latter whose Russian brown bear is a well loved feature of the
museum.
The reserve collections include important research collections and other material that is
only periodically on display. These include beetles, butterflies and moths, bird eggs, large
tropical shell collections, many fine taxidermy cases and scientific study skins.
At Chelmsford Museum, the geology is currently displayed in the first room the public
visit, intentionally as an old-fashioned museum display, using original wooden museum
cases.
In two British wildlife galleries upstairs, there are large numbers of animal (mostly bird)
taxidermy mounts. There are also very fine collections of cased specimens illustrating
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the work of many leading taxidermists of their day, like Ward, Spicer, Cooper and
Waters, some nationally significant.
The museum also has a very popular living honeybee observation hive.
1.7.
The Essex Regiment Museum
Alongside Chelmsford Museum is another separately constituted museum, the Essex
Regiment Museum, formed in 1973, telling the story of the County's own Regiment
since 1741. Many fascinating and valuable artefacts are on permanent display in the
museum, including the gilded Salamanca Eagle standard captured from the French 62nd
Regiment at the Battle of Salamanca in 1812. Also to be seen are the Victoria Crosses
won by Essex Regiment men in China, the Crimea and South Africa; and the Silver
Drums presented by the County of Essex in Memory of its sons who fell in the Boer
War and the Great War.
Whilst Chelmsford Borough Council manages and curates the regimental
collections, they are owned by the Trustees of the Essex Regiment Museum. A 25
year Management Agreement, dated 24 March 1999, sets out the arrangements.
Not all relics are beautiful or valuable, many showing the hardships of army life, such as
one of the earliest gas masks or a pike issued to the Essex Home Guard, the real "Dads
Army", to fight off invading paratroopers.
On display on the staircase of Chelmsford Museum is the Last Stand at Gundermuck, an
oil by William Barnes Wollen in 1898, depicting the heroic fight of the Essex Regiment
in Afghanistan.
Thousands of local men have served the Regiment and their uniforms, weapons,
equipment, decorations and other memorabilia are preserved to witness over 250 years
of world-wide service. The museum maintains a database of Regiment personnel, which
is updated by a team of veteran volunteers.
The reserve collections are stored off-site in the museum store at South Woodham
Ferrers. Fire arms, and reserve silver artefacts, are stored in the museum strong room,
and include Section 5 weapons, for which the museum is licensed by the Home Office.
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2. Criteria governing future collecting policy, including the subjects or
themes for collecting
2.1
General Considerations
2.1.1
The phrase ‘Chelmsford Museums’ throughout is used to denote both the
Chelmsford Museum and the Essex Regiment Museum.
2.1.2
Chelmsford Museums should build on existing strengths in the collections
rather than opening up completely new areas of collecting, unless a specific
area relevant to the development of the Service is identified, and approved by
Chelmsford Borough Council.
2.1.3
Objects will have specific relevance to the collecting policy below, and for
Chelmsford Museums.
2.1.4
Consideration will be given either to the potential for display, or to the
importance of the item for research purposes.
2.1.5
Consideration will be given to the ability of Chelmsford Museums to store
and curate objects properly.
2.2
Archaeology and Numismatics
2.2.1
Local Agreements between Essex Museums and Essex County Council
Archaeology Section exist and should be adhered to. The Museums Service
aims to receive all archaeological archives offered to it from excavations
within the Chelmsford and Brentwood districts and conditions are covered by
a formal agreement drawn up with the Essex County Council (22.6.89). In
addition archives from Billericay may be accepted.
2.2.2
Other material which will be collected comprises:
2.2.3
Stray finds from inside the Borough offered to the Museum, which are of
intrinsic value. Items of intrinsic value which are considered to enhance the
collection and which are of local interest may be purchased using the Museum
Purchase Fund. This should include Treasure items not required by the
British Museum. In all cases, authenticity of the legal ownership and original
collection of the said artefact by the donor must be proven (see below, para
8).
2.2.4
The coin collection is of regional strength. Active collecting should be
concentrated on British coins, bank notes and commemorative medals,
paranumismatica, items relating to Chelmsford banks, and Essex tokens.
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2.3
Art
2.3.1
The Art Collection should build on its regional strength within which the
particular strength lies in examples of applied art and design. Examples which
add to this strength should be acquired.
2.3.2
Chelmsford Museums should collect the work of Essex artists or subjects
having a Chelmsford or Mid Essex connection, particularly local topographical
works of high quality, unrestricted by period.
2.4
Social History
2.4.1
In general, collecting in this area should reflect the concept of Chelmsford as
a changed and changing community concentrating on objects. Complete paper
archives are generally seen as being the remit of the Record Office; however,
photographs and printed ephemera are actively collected. There should be no
unnecessary duplication and the restraints of space dictate that furniture and
building materials will not generally be collected. Relevant contemporary
collecting is encouraged.
2.4.2
The costume collection is of regional significance and should be built on. A
limited number of contemporary items should be added each year, subject to
resources and storage space allowing, so that the collection reflects past,
current and future.
2.4.3
Items should normally either have been manufactured in the Chelmsford
District, or have been used within the District, or connected to known
Chelmsford People of an interest to the Museum.
2.5
Science and Industry
2.5.1
Science
Chelmsford’s pioneer technologies were closely related to developments in
physical science and items should be collected representing local scientific
activity, eg. George Calver’s instrument-making and the work of Lord
Rayleigh at Terling.
2.5.2
Engineering
Chelmsford's engineering heritage should be the main focus of collecting.
Principal industries to be collected are - electrical engineering (Crompton,
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Christy), telecommunications (Marconi/EEV), and precision engineering
(Hoffmann).
However, priority should also be given to collecting material from
Chelmsford's industrial firms which are poorly or un-represented in the
collections, eg Christy & Norris, Clarkson, and Chelmsford founders such as
Coleman & Morton and Eddingtons.
2.5.3
Craft industries, agriculture and transport
Select items relating to industries arising from Chelmsford's position as a
market town should be collected. Items should be in good condition and of
interesting local provenance.
Large transport and agricultural items should not be collected unless they are
of local manufacture or have a very strong local context.
2.5.4
Items made by Chelmsford firms should be collected, subject to
resources, significance and public utility, from wherever they appear, inside
or outside the Borough.
2.6
Natural Sciences
2.6.1
The Natural Science collections include both Geology and general Natural
History. There is a small grant-aided programme (subject to the availability of
revenue budgets) to add new mounted taxidermy specimens and study skins
for educational and display purposes.
2.6.2
A small number of local geological items are occasionally taken into the
collection, which is of countywide significance.
2.6.3
Very occasionally collections are offered for donation. Where these might fill
a specific gap in the existing collections (eg birds, regional geology, local
wildlife and tropical shells) such offers should be considered.
2.6.4
To complement the Museums Service's environmental work, a small amount
of active collecting from important sites in the Borough is carried out. These
are Galleywood Common, Hylands Park and Hanningfield Reservoir.
2.6.5
So far as biological and geological material is concerned, Chelmsford Museums
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 (eg a British court in the case of a
specimen seized from a third party under the Protection of Birds Acts).
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2.7
Militaria
2.7.1
Items relating to the Essex Regiment and the Essex Yeomanry should be
collected actively.
2.7.2
It should be noted that the Essex Regiment Museum is the official repository
for all types of items relating to the Essex Regiment.
2.7.3
Items relating to named military units from the County, and incidental items
relating to other units, institutions or individuals which aid the interpretation
of the defence of the County, should be actively collected.
3. Period of time and/or geographical area to which collecting relates
3.1
The collections and displays should be based on the Borough of Chelmsford
except where there are identified existing countywide, regional or national
strengths.
3.2
There are no restrictions based on periods of time.
4.
Limitations on collecting
4.1
Chelmsford Museums 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 Standard. It
will take into account limitations on collecting imposed by such factors as
inadequate staffing, storage and care of collection arrangements.
4.2
The care of existing collections should be regarded as a higher priority than the
acquisition of new items.
4.3
Gifts and bequests
Gifts and bequests shall only be accepted on the basis that any conditions are
approved by the governing body, and in all cases reference will be made to the
limitations on collecting as specified in the policy. Chelmsford Borough Council
shall reserve the right to refuse any offer of material.
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4.4
Loans
Chelmsford Borough Council will not normally accept material on loan unless
for the purposes of exhibition, identification or copying, or where the item is of
exceptional interest to the museum. Any loan will be agreed in writing by the
lender and the museum, including allocation of responsibilities for insurance and
transport arrangements and shall be for a specified fixed term only, renewable in
writing. Use of the term 'permanent loan' shall be avoided and items will not be
accepted on this basis.
4.5
Material not accepted for the permanent collection.
Due to the nature of the activities of Chelmsford Museums, the museums may
occasionally acquire certain items which are not intended to be retained for the
permanent collections. These items may be used as educational or school
handling collections, or, in the case of the science and industrial collections, as
spares or consumable working parts.
In the case of such material, documentation will clearly show the intended use of
the object and donors will be made aware of this possibility at the time of entry
and informed as soon as a decision has been made regarding the material. These
objects will be recorded separately outside the main accession record and shall
not be treated as part of the permanent collection since their intended use
implies that preservation cannot be guaranteed.
5. Collecting policies of other museums
Chelmsford Museums 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.
Specific reference is made to the following museum(s):
Other relevant museums within the county of Essex
National Army Museum
The Essex Regiment Museum will give priority for acquisition to the Royal Anglian
Regiment Museum at Duxford in respect of material relating to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
The 3rd East Anglian Regiment (16th/44th Foot), 1958-64.
The 3rd Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment, 1964-92.
The 1st Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment, 1992-to date.
Successor Territorial Army units of the Essex Regiment, The 5th and 6th
(Volunteer) Battalions, The Royal Anglian Regiment and the East of England
Regiment, 1967-to date.
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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 Agency (EEMLAC) will be notified of any changes to the Acquisition and
Disposal Policy, and the implications of any such changes for the future of 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
Chelmsford Museums itself, having regard to the interests of other museums.
8. Acquisition procedures
a. Chelmsford Museums will exercise due diligence and make every effort not to
acquire, whether by purchase, gift, bequest or exchange, any object or specimen unless
the governing body or responsible officer is satisfied that the museum can acquire a valid
title to the item in question.
b. In particular, Chelmsford Museums 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 1 2002, and the
Dealing in Cultural Objects (Offences) Act 2003, Chelmsford Museums will reject any
items that have been illicitly traded. The governing body will be guided by the national
guidance on the responsible acquisition of cultural property issued by DCMS in 2005.
d. Chelmsford Museums will not acquire archaeological antiquities (including excavated
ceramics) in any case where the governing body 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).
e. Any exceptions to the above clauses 8a, 8b, 8c, or 8d will only be because
Chelmsford Museums is either:
acting as an externally approved repository of last resort for material of local (UK)
origin; or
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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
its country of origin before 1970.
In these cases Chelmsford Museums will be open and transparent in the way it makes
decisions and will act only with the express consent of an appropriate outside authority.
9. Spoliation
Chelmsford Museums will use the statement of principles ‘Spoliation of Works of Art
during the Nazi, Holocaust and World War II period’, issued for non-national museums
in 1999 by the Museums and Galleries Commission.
10. Repatriation and Restitution
Chelmsford Museums’ governing body, acting on the advice of the museum’s
professional staff, 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 case by case
basis, within its legal position and taking into account all ethical implications.
11. Management of archives
As Chelmsford Museums hold archives, including photographs and printed ephemera,
its governing body will be guided by the Code of Practice on Archives for Museums and
Galleries in the United Kingdom (3rd ed., 2002).
12. Disposal procedures
a. By definition, Chelmsford Museums has a long-term purpose and should possess (or
intend to acquire) permanent collections in relation to its stated objectives. The
governing body accepts the principle that, except for sound curatorial reasons, there is a
strong presumption against the disposal of any items in the museums’ collection.
b. Chelmsford Museums 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, Chelmsford Museums will
establish if it was acquired with the aid of an external funding organisation. In such cases,
any conditions attached to the original grant will be followed. This may include
repayment of the original grant.
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d. Decisions to dispose of items will not be made with the principal aim of generating
funds.
e. Any monies received by the museum governing body 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 governing body 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
Museums Journal, and in 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 disposals 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.
k. It is recommended that original donors of material deposited within the last 20 years
and being considered for disposal should be notified of this decision as a matter of
courtesy, and informed of the new owners, should this be a museum. If no other
museum is interested, the original donor may be offered the item back.
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