Collection Care and Management: History, Theory, and Practice

Abstract

Collections management has a direct impact on all activities in museums because all activities involve the collections at some level. Although historically the most fundamental aspect of collections management was establishing and maintaining order, collections management now includes the acquisition, accession, registration, cataloging, care, use, and disposal of collections and associated information. Collections management is based on the principles of preventive conservation and documentation (the maintenance of the supporting evidence of the identification, condition, history, use, and value of the objects in the collection). The first formal training programs for museum workers were launched during the early twentieth century; nevertheless, museums have been slow to adopt universal standards for managing collections. Although prior to the introduction of electronic data management storing and retrieving collection information was slow and labor‐intensive, museums are now seen as repositories of information as well as objects. As collection size increases arithmetically, the cost of collections management increases geometrically, which has resulted in recognition of the importance of collections planning and the need for more efficient storage and management of collections in the future. The development of theoretical museology has significantly changed collections management practice as it has evolved from dominance by subject‐matter discipline specialties to functions‐based operations, along with the understanding that knowledge is continually generated from museum collections. The growth of the collections management literature, professionalization of collections care positions, establishment of museum standards, and the development of museological theory have all shaped modern collections management.