HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Museum Of Science And History Advisory Committee - 06/02/1994 aR3a-
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Corpus Christi Museum of Science and Hist. SG \;"31
Advisory Committee Meeting o � `� -
June 2 , 1994 s ' c‘ �ti/
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The Museum Advisory Committee met in the Museum at 12 %fE(P?®tk /
Thursday, June 2 , 1994 . Members Present: Alda Klett, Ruth
O'Brien, Deborah Kobelan, Gene Pennebaker, Delbert Hooper, and
Dwayne Dean. Members Absent : Dr. Linda Mora, Alicia Perez,
Sharon Brower, Susie Sedwick, Gwen Henzi, and Cindy Gamez .
Vice Chairman Gene Pennebaker called the meeting to order. Upon
motion made by Ruth O'Brien and seconded by Alda Klett, the
minutes of the May 5, 1994 meeting were unanimously approved as
written.
4a. Collections Policy - The Museum is a collecting institution
and the Collections Policy is the core policy guiding the collec-
tions related activities of the staff . All staff and Advisory
Committee members should understand and comply with this policy.
Presently, the Museum allocates 40, 000 square feet to exhibits
and 14, 000 square feet to storage and collections research. This
amounts to almost 70% of the Museum space devoted specifically to
collections-related purposes . Of the exhibit space, 48% is
devoted to history topics, 39% to natural history topics, 5% to
changing exhibits, and 8% to children' s exhibits . There are just
under 30, 000 artifacts in the history collections and just over
32, 000 accessions in the natural history collections . All of
these resources should fall within our statement of purpose and
should be managed according to the guidelines addressed in our
Collections Policy.
The Collections Policy was adopted in 1987 and has not been
changed since. Our purpose was changed with the intent of
narrowing our focus in 1990 . It is, therefore, time to revise
the Collections Policy to conform to our new purpose and time to
adjust it to other changes over the last seven years .
The components of the Collections Policy and major issues are:
a . Acquisitions and Accessions
One of the major questions concerns the requirement that
objects be properly conserved, and if they cannot be con-
served within a reasonable period of time, then perhaps they
should be deaccessioned.
b. Guidelines Unique to Individual Collections
Some new issues that should be addressed are destructive
analysis of collections - especially archeology artifacts .
Also, should there be a teaching collection, a Las Donas
collection, oral history collections, and a fine arts col-
lection?
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410
Advisory Committee Meeting
June 2, 1994
Page 2
c . Deaccessions and Disposal
After we narrowed our purpose, have we done enough to elimi-
nate inappropriate objects from the collection.
d. Loans
We are a repository for objects, yet we do not have a policy
addressing the status of such objects in the collection, and
we have not considered destructive analysis of loaned ob-
jects .
e. Ethics
The American Association of Museums is requiring the adop-
tion of an ethics policy that conforms to museum standards,
and we have not yet done that .
f . Clear Title
The laws governing clear title may not be adequately enumer-
ated in the Policy.
There will be some revisions to each of these components . In
addition, City policies and ordinances, state and federal laws
that relate to these issues should be included as appendices or
included in the bibliography for reference. After there has been
opportunity to discuss these changes, the Advisory Committee will
be asked to adopt the revised policy.
Each Committee member should read through the policy carefully so
that the final product can be clear to everyone concerned.
With no further business to discuss, the meeting adjourned at
1 : 10 p.m.
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