Collection Tips

Storing Your Collection

The location, conditions, and containers you store your collection in directly affect the preservation of the objects. There are materials and conditions that are best suited to protecting your collection. Proper preservation can be costly, but maintaining your collection for the foreseeable future is priceless.

Location

The best place to store a collection is in a room away from consistent direct lights (windows, overhead lighting) that have temperature and humidity control. We understand that this type of room is not available to everyone, so find a room that has minimal light and that has stable humidity and temperature. Just make sure to avoid places with drastic swings in the climate like basements, sheds, and garages.

Shelving

Museum and archival quality storage shelving is usually made of steel that has been powder-coated with epoxy, polyester, or acrylic. Avoid rusty steel shelves and older ones that have a baked enamel coating, as they can release gasses dangerous to your objects. Try and avoid using wood shelving, especially for fragile objects, as they naturally emit organic acids and peroxides that will deteriorate the contents they shelve.

Containers

When storing large objects, they can be kept safely on a shelf or platform in a room that follows the location requirements above. Some smaller objects and paper materials are best stored in a container.

Museum-quality containers are made of non-reactive materials, meaning they do not emit any gasses that can deteriorate the objects they contain. Look for containers that are alkaline-buffered, acid-free, and have a neutral pH. These types of products are usually referred to as “Archival.” These containers can be costly and should be a priority for protecting your collection. Not every organization can afford these so, if non-archival containers must be used, consider wrapping every object with acid-free buffering tissue paper.

Avoid storing objects in airtight containers, like plastic bins, can protect objects from leaks, but these tubs can actually capture and hold moisture, damaging the contents.

MasterIt and Blog Resources

Conducting a Collections Inventory with CatalogIt
Numbering Museum Objects and Personal Collections
Cataloging your Collections Backlog
Completing the Story: Using Relationships
Managing Valuation, Appraisal, and Insurance in CatalogIt
Cataloging Archives and Ephemera
Ethnography Profile
Key Considerations for Analog and Digital Image Collections
No Data No Rocks
Creating Exhibition Labels with CatalogIt
Tracking Museum Exhibitions
Creating Efficiencies with QR Codes in CatalogIt

Video Resource - Condition, Conservation, and Maintenance in CatalogIt

Acquisition Tips

Acquisition vs. Accession

Acquisitions are objects obtained by a museum. Not all acquisitions need to be cataloged. Any acquisition that the museum intends on adding to their permanent collection and cataloging needs to be accessioned.

Accessioning

Accessioning is the formal process of adding a acquisition to the museum's permanent collection. Only accession objects that fit the mission of your institution and that your museum has the capacity to care for indefinitely. To learn about what what distinguishes the two see our blogpost Acquisition v. Accession.

Deaccessioning

Deaccessioning is the permanent removal of an object or objects from a museum's collection. Deaccessioning objects may be a sensitive matter, so the process should not be taken lightly.

There are many reasons why a museum may choose to remove an object from their collection including, but not limited to:

• Condition: The object has deteriorated past the point of restoration.
• Safety: The condition of the object poses a threat to the health and safety of staff and visitors.
• Legality: The object was acquired unethically or illegally.
• Repatriation: The object was returned via Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).
• Storage and Care: The museum does not have the staff, space, or financial means to properly take care of an object.
• Relevance and Mission: The object no longer meets the requirements for collecting outlined in a museum's collection policy. Or, the object no longer fits the mission of the museum.

This list was adapted from the Guidelines on Deaccessioning of the International Council of Museums.

For more information about this process, see our MasterIt article Deaccessioning Museum Collections.

Provenance

Provenance is a record of ownership for an object, used as a guide to authenticity and quality. Recording provenance of an object is crucial in proving that an object was acquired legally and ethically.

CatalogIt allows museums and other collecting organizations to accurately track the legal ownership of the objects in their collection by utilizing the Provenance Profile.

For more information on provenance, check out our 

MasterIt and Blog Resources

Recording Provenance for Your Collection
The Importance of Provenance: Managing Unsolicited Gifts at Small Museums
Processing Donations and Year End Gifts

Loans in CatalogIt

Incoming Loans

CatalogIt helps make managing incoming loans simple and comprehensive. Using the "Loan In" Profile, you can track lenders, conditions, purposes, shipping, installation, and paperwork related to each loan.

Incoming Loans typically fall into three categories:

• Exhibit Loans: Shorter-term loans of objects in connection with temporary exhibitions organized by the museum.
• Long-Term Loans: Loans of objects for exhibition in the core (permanent collection) galleries. (Note: long-term loans should not be taken in for the purpose of storage).
• Temporary Loans: Loans of objects brought in for consideration of acquisition or intended for study by the museum.

To create a Loan In Profile, go to the Main Menu, Profiles, then select Loan In either by clicking on the icon, searching, or scrolling. From there, select "Create New Loan In" and enter all of the pertinent information you have regarding this loan.

For an in-depth description of this process, see our MasterIt Article Processing Incoming Loans.

Outgoing Loans

Along with Incoming Loans, CatalogIt helps simply manage and track your Outgoing Loans, using the Outgoing Loans Profile.

Outgoing Loans are when an organization or collector allow another organization to borrow one or more of their objects for a set amount of time. When considering a loan request, all museums and organizations should consider or require the following:

• A written loan request including a purpose for the loan, information on the exhibit the object will feature in, the venue it will be displayed in, and a named contact person at the requesting institution.
• A copy of the borrowers "Standard / General Facilities Report" for review.
• Condition reports for all objects.
• Perceived costs.
• Insurance of the loaned object(s).
• Processed Loan Forms.
• Logistics (installation requirements, transportation, scheduled pickup / dropoff and returns, conservation requirements, etc.)

To create a Loan Out Profile, go to the Main Menu (three lines in the top), Profiles, then select Loan Out either by clicking on the icon, searching, or scrolling. From there, select "Create New Loan Out" and enter all of the pertinent information you have regarding this loan.

For an in-depth description of this process, see our MasterIt Article Processing Outgoing Loans.

Video Resource - Exhibitions and Loans

Temporary Custody

Temporary Custody refers to item(s) temporarily taken into custody by the museum. This is a step often used by a museum to take responsibility of an item while they decide if the item should be added to their permanent collection.

CatalogIt has a Temporary Custody Profile that helps you easily and efficiently track items coming in on a temporary receipt. To create a new Temporary Custody Profile, go to the Main Menu, Profiles, select Temporary Custody, and click on the "Create a New Temporary Custody Button." CatalogIt will automatically assign the next available unique number, for example the first Temporary Custody of 2025 would be assigned T2025.1.

For an in-depth description of this process, see our MasterIt Article Using CatalogIt to Track Temporary Custody of Objects.