----- Original Message -----
From: "John Colby" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 24 November 2002 16:03
Subject: Re: Closure of industrial museums


> At 15:58 24/11/2002 +0000, Peter Challis wrote:
>
> >II believe there was a
> >furore over the auctioning of material donated in such good faith to
> >the Chatterly Whitfield Museum.
> Many years ago I was told that if you donate something to a museum, they
> can do what they like with it, if they are willing to accept it on
> permanent loan, then you retain ownership and hence it can;t be sold
> without your say.
>
> Anyone have any experience of this?
>
> Regards
>
> John
>

John

There was a thread similar to this back in June 2000 on this list under the
heading of "How best to dispose of one's collections".
I don't have all that thread, but my contribution to it is copied in below.
This is partly specific to the NMRC policy, but quite a lot of the reply
below is equally applicable to most libraries and museums I expect.

I hope this is helpful. There were a lot more emails on the subject back
then (probably starting in May 2000).

All the best, Roger

----- Original Message -----
From: "Roger Gosling" <[log in to unmask]>
To: "mining-hist-list" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 09 June 2000 20:01
Subject: How best to dispose of one's collections - NMR Acquisitions policy

Hi list - I promised some more on the above once I had checked with the NMR,
so on the subject of 'how best to dispose of one's collections', the
following relates to the National Monuments Record Office @ Swindon.

I hope you all find this useful.

Roger

----- Original Message -----
From: "Evans, Mike" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Cc: "Golding, Jane" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 09 June 2000 16:35
Subject: NMR Acquisitions policy

Dear Mr Gosling

Jane Golding has copied your interesting e-mail on to me, and I am happy to
provide some guidance - please feel free to circulate any part of this if
you feel appropriate.  [Note I have included it all without any editing -
Roger]

In fact the National Monuments Record does accept collections which document
any aspect of the historic environment in England, not just listed buildings
and scheduled monuments. We would certainly consider accepting a collection
of records about mines and mining, particularly since, as Irene
Schrufer-Kolb indicates, this area of interest is not as well reflected by
existing holdings as it might be. However (there is of course always a
"however") we do have to be very selective in what we acquire. This is not
only because of the storage space such collections take up but also because
of the resource involved in cataloguing them. I have listed below some of
the criteria we would use to assess a collection.

* To what extent does a collection fill gaps in our holdings, as opposed to
duplicate what we already have?

* How well documented is the collection? Is it well ordered and are there
good finding aids?

* Is the owner willing to transfer ownership and copyright? Unless there are
compelling reasons otherwise, we ask that collections are given to us rather
than placed on long-term loan. This does make the long term management and
dissemination of the collection much easier. Where donors propose to leave
us material as a bequest in their will we do ask that they contact us first,
so that we can assess the material and agree an appropriate form of words.

* What formats are in the collection? The primary focus of the NMR is on
visual records - photographs and  measured drawings, for example - and on
the text records such as reports and databases which accompany them. We are
not set up to deal with artefacts such as miners lamps and mineral
specimens, and would probably only take a collection including them if we
were able to pass them on to a more appropriate home.

* Is the coverage local or national in scope? Is there another more
appropriate home for the collection? Options will vary according to the
nature and coverage of the collection, but may include county record
offices; local studies libraries; local or national museums; the libraries
or archives of specialist institutions; university libraries with an
interest in a particular subject area etc. We might ask what options have
been explored and suggest an alternative.

I am sure that all this sounds off-putting, but these kind of considerations
do have to be taken into account if we are to look after properly both new
acquisitions and those records which we already hold. We are always happy to
consider  possible donations: if anybody wishes to discuss a collection
further please feel free to contact me at the address below, or Tony Rumsey,
the Curation Manager, at the same address.

Mike Evans, Head of Archives
National Monuments Record
NMRC, Kemble Drive, Swindon, SN2 2GZ
Tel: 01793 414647
Fax: 01793 414770
e mail [log in to unmask]