Preserve an Object

Collections acceptance criteria

All items accepted and accessioned into the collections shall:

• Support the mission of BCHS.

• Relate to the cultural, natural, and/or historical record of Bonner County, Idaho.

• Have been obtained legally and in accordance with all state and federal regulations. The donor must have the legal authority to transfer ownership of the objects or archives.

• Be complete and in stable condition. BCHS will generally not accept collection materials that are seriously damaged, unstable, hazardous, or oversized, unless funding is obtained to professionally conserve, safely store, or mitigate risks posed by the materials.

• Are deemed to be authentic.

• Not duplicate existing collection material, unless there is a compelling reason such as high use.

We accept gifts to our tiered collections based on the following criteria:

PRIMARY COLLECTION items:

• Have a specific connection to a place, event, or citizen of Bonner County

• Have a well-documented provenance (we can understand where they came from or who they belonged to)

• Have a high potential for use in research or exhibitions

• Deed of gift is complete and recorded

• On our end, these items:

  • Are preserved to the highest possible standard of care

  • Are handled only by trained staff or volunteers

  • To remove from collection, require formal deaccession procedure with a public review period

DISPLAY/EDUCATION COLLECTION items:

• Support Bonner County themes or stories but have no direct, documented tie to Bonner County history

• Do not carry the burden of any donor restrictions

• On our end, these items:

  • Are preserved to an average standard of care

  • May be used as display items in exhibits

  • May be used as study or demonstration pieces for education programming

  • May be handled more frequently by staff, volunteers, or the public

  • To remove from collection, require review and approval by the Collections Manager

RESEARCH COLLECTION items:

• Are secondary source materials that support BCHS’s research capabilities

• Do not carry the burden of any donor restrictions

• As applicable, donor releases BCHS and its patrons from any copyright liability

• On our end, these items:

  • Are preserved to an average standard of care

  • May be distributed, copied, or otherwise shared openly with the public

  • May be handled frequently by staff, volunteers, or the public

  • To remove from collection, require review and approval by the Collections Manager

Due to limited space and resources, potential acquisitions that cannot meet these requirements will not be accepted.

Collections Management policies

What is Collections Management?

BCHS preserves and manages Bonner County's historical, archaeological, and permanent records collections. Collections management is how we prolong the useful life of historic objects used to fulfill the mission of our museum. The collections management policy establishes the criteria and guidelines for BCHS collection acquisition, management, documentation, preservation, and use. The collection is the heart and soul of the museum, the central resource from which all other activities spring. For this reason, a clear collections management policy is fundamental to the proper functioning of the museum.

Collections Management policy highlights:

SCOPE of COLLECTION: The collection is categorized into a sub-collection in the following four areas:

• Archives- document collections, manuscripts, oral histories, maps, music collections, and personal or unpublished papers

• Library- published materials such as books, pamphlets, newspapers, and magazines

• Objects- art, archaeology, natural history, tools, geology, and textiles

• Photographs- prints, negatives, film, and digital scans

GOVERNANCE: The collection is managed by the Collections Manager and a team of trained volunteers. BCHS’s Collection, Museum and Exhibits Committee provides guidance and oversight over policies and procedures. The Collections Management policy is approved and governed by BCHS’s Board of Trustees.

ACQUISITION: Objects/items should be acquired in a manner that respects the public trust and does not damage the natural or cultural resources of Bonner County. BCHS may acquire objects by donation or bequest. BCHS does not have a budget to purchase objects for the collection and relies on the generosity of the public to grow its collection.

RESTRICTIONS: Collections with restrictions on use and disposition are avoided to the greatest extent possible. Under special circumstances an object may be accepted with restrictions if approved by the Board of Trustees. The restrictions must be clearly stated in the Deed of Gift and made part of the accession record for the object.

GUARANTEE OF EXHIBITION: BCHS cannot guarantee that a donated item will permanently, or indeed, ever be exhibited at the museum. Exhibitions are curated to highlight specific themes, for which not all artifacts are representative. Some artifacts may be more responsibly preserved by not being displayed.

DEED OF GIFT: All acquisitions require a signed deed of gift, a document which transfers legal ownership from the donor to BCHS. At the time of donation, donor must attest that they are the legal owner of said object(s). If, at a future time, the donation is legally contested, BCHS will comply with the determination of the court.

COPYRIGHT: To the extent possible, all copyright interests are assigned to BCHS. If the donor is not willing to assign all copyright interests, agreed upon terms of use should be clearly stated in writing and included with the accession record.

DEACCESSION: Objects are not accepted for the collection with the intent to remove them in the future. However, managing a collection includes periodically reviewing objects to ensure they are still valuable elements of the overall collection. Collections staff periodically reevaluate existing holdings, and materials no longer relevant and useful may be considered for deaccession. Deaccession is the formal process of removing an object from the collection and relinquishing legal ownership of the object.

DISPOSITION: A primary consideration in the de-accessioning process involves determining the appropriate method of disposition: return to donor, transfer, exchange, sale, or destruction. Restrictions on the sale of deaccessioned items include:

• Not to be sold to finance debt or infrastructure

• Not to be privately sold to any BCHS employee, officer, board member, volunteer, or friends or relatives of BCHS personnel, other than at public auction or public marketplace

• Not to be sold in the BCHS gift shop

• To promote the legal and ethical collection of antiquities, BCHS will not sell archaeological materials.

• Monies realized from sales of de-accessioned materials will be placed in a restricted fund for the direct care of the existing collection.

This is an abridged version of BCHS’s Collection Management Policy. To read the unabridged document, please contact us at curator@bonnercountyhistory.org.