Museum Collecting Lessons: Acquisition Stories from the Inside

169 Pages·2022·43.244 MB·English

by  Steven Miller

Museum Collecting Lessons
Museum Collecting Lessons explains how and why museums meet their
fundamental duty to collect. It is the first book of its kind to explore the diverse
ways these unique institutions acquire what is preserved and used for exhibitions,
programs, publications, and online applications.
The 11 chapters that make up the volume are written by museum practitioners
working in art, history, and science museums in the United States, Canada, and
India. Together, the essays provide fascinating insights into a wide variety of
significant acquisitions and museum collecting initiatives. The authors explain
customary collecting methods, including donation, purchase, and field retrieval.
Commonly shared acquisition denominators are also covered and include mission
pertinence, quality control, the feasibility and legality of acquisition, personnel
and volunteer involvement, and long-term retention assurances. The philosophies
and realities presented within the case studies shine light on recent debates about
who is included or excluded in museum collections – especially when it comes to
race, ethnicity, gender, political perspectives, places of habitation, and economic
status.
Museum Collecting Lessons reflects upon past and ongoing issues relating to
museum acquisition practices. Offering valuable insights about philosophical,
practical, and ethical collecting practices, the book will be of interest to aspiring,
beginner, and experienced museum professionals around the world.
Steven Miller began his museum career in 1971. He has served as a curator,
administrator, director, trustee, writer, consultant, and museum studies educator.
For 16 years he was an adjunct professor teaching core courses with the Seton
Hall University MA Program in Museum Professions, South Orange, New Jersey,
USA.

Museum Collecting Lessons
Acquisition Stories from the Inside
Edited by Steven Miller
Cover image: © Steven Miller
First published 2022
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2022 selection and editorial matter, Steven Miller; individual chapters,
the contributors
The right of Steven Miller to be identified as the author of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-032-10649-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-10642-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-21638-4 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003216384
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
This book is dedicated to the generations of smart
museum workers who thoughtfully and with great
foresight assembled what now represents an extraordinary
international legacy of material evidence about our
natural and human universe.

Contents
Contents
List of Figures ix
List of Contributors xi
Introduction 1
STEVEN MILLER
1 Making Sense of Your Community Museum Collection:
Strategies for Stuff Management 12
JOHN SUMMERS
2 Collecting Our Culture: Eeyou Cree Collecting at
Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute 22
AANISCHAAUKAMIKW CREE CULTURAL INSTITUTE
3 Strategies for Acquiring Contemporary Art: Creativity and
Collaboration 43
JENNIFER JANKAUSKAS
4 Collecting Period Rooms: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Francis W.
Little House 57
MORRISON H. HECKSCHER
5 A New Museum Builds a Collection: How One Gift Leads to
Others: James A. Michener Museum of Art’s Acquisition Success 63
BRUCE KATSIFF
6 A Museum-Defining Acquisition: The Murtogh D. Guinness
Collection of Mechanical Musical Instruments and
Automata, Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ 79
STEVEN MILLER
viii Contents
7 Unpacking the Baggage: The Smooth Acquisition and
Transfer of the Lee L. Forman Collection of Bags 88
JODI KEARNS AND FRAN UGALDE
8 How We Got Our F-16 Fighting Falcon 103
JAMES WALTHER
9 Community Collecting Conversations: Acquisition Stories,
District Museum, Jorhat, India 113
ABANTIKA PARASHAR
10 Collecting Nonverbal History Documents 121
STEVEN MILLER
11 Barnum Brown’s Bones 137
DOUGLAS J. PRESTON
12 Conclusion 145
STEVEN MILLER
Index 150
Figures
Figures
2.1 Map of Eeyou Istchee 24
2.2 Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute 25
2.3 Example Acquisitions Proposal Email 26
2.4 Some Examples From the CRA Nemaska Collection 27
2.5 Graphic of Acquisitions by Method and Source Type 2011–2020 28
2.6 Elders’ Project Examples 32
2.7 First Snowshoe Walk Ceremony 33
2.8 Loan Withdrawn for Ceremony 34
2.9 Acquisitions From Our Painted Caribou Coats Research Project 36
3.1 Kerry James Marshall. School of Beauty, School of Culture 49
3.2 Fred William, courtesy PACE gallery 52
5.1 Michener Art Museum 64
5.2 Henry B. Snell (1859–1955), The Barber’s Shop 67
5.3 Restoration of Mural by Daniel Garber (1880–1958), A Wooded
Watershed 71
5.4 Fern I. Coppedge (1898–1951), Autumn 73
5.5 Edward W. Redfield (1869–1965), The Trout Brook 74
5.6 Bror Julius Nordfeldt (1878–1955), The Pigs and the Crow 75
5.7 George W. Sotter (1879–1953), Untitled (Night Snow Scene) 76
5.8 R.A.D. Miller (1905–1966), Rooftops, New Hope 77
6.1 Sample Exhibit Galleries for the Murtogh D. Guinness
Collection of Mechanical Musical Instruments, Morris Museum,
Morristown, NJ, 2008 80
6.2 Alan Lightcap Restoring for Exhibition the Largest Pneumatic
Musical Instrument in the Murtogh D. Guinness Collection of
the Morris Museum. It Features Several Instruments 86
7.1 Drs. Nicholas & Dorothy Cummings Center for the History of
Psychology at the University of Akron 90
7.2 Galleries, Drs. Nicholas & Dorothy Cummings Center for the
History of Psychology at the University of Akron 91
7.3 Students Preparing and Installing Exhibitions in the Galleries
of the Drs. Nicholas & Dorothy Cummings Center for the
History of Psychology at the University of Akron, Akron, Ohio 92