Historical Commission Agenda and Packet 2015 07 01

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Louisville Historical Museum Collections Management Policy Draft — June 2015 by a release signed by the donor of the copyright; and purchases should be accompanied by an invoice or receipt. For items that were exchanges, "found in collection" or abandoned property, Museum staff should describe the circumstances of acceptance. (The Museum's Deed of Gift Form and Oral History Release can be found in the Appendix.) 4.4 For gifts, Museum staff or donors themselves shall describe the donated item or items on a Deed of Gift form. Noting the provenance of the item and how the donor came to own the item, either on the Deed of Gift form or in separate notes, is a particularly important aspect of the donation process. The Chair of the Historical Commission indicates whether the Commission has accepted or not accepted the items at a Commission meeting and signs and dates the form. 4.5 If only a digital image of an item and not the original is being donated, and it is not practicable to obtain the signature of the donor on a Deed of Gift form, the donor's emailed message indicating that the donor is donating the digital image and that it may be used by the Museum as it sees fit shall serve as the Deed of Gift. 4.6 For nonaccessioned items, such as photocopies of family history information intended for research, the Museum staff may request a signed Deed of Gift form and indicate on it that the items are not being accessioned, but the Deed of Gift form does not need to be presented to the Commission for acceptance in order for the item to be used at the Museum. 4.7 If a donation contains a mixture of items to be accessioned and not accessioned, or a mixture of items to be added to the permanent collection, education collection, and reference collection, Museum staff shall communicate with the donor about these distinctions, obtain approval for how the Museum staff would categorize the items, and reflect this understanding in writing on the Deed of Gift form so that the donor gives approval. 4.8 Potential donors leaving items left with Museum staff to be considered for acceptance (if not signing a Deed of Gift form) shall sign, along with Museum staff, a temporary custody receipt form. If the Commission indicates interest in having the Museum receive the gift, Museum staff shall then attempt to arrange with the donor for the donor to sign the Deed of Gift form. 4.9 Museum staff will notify owners if their items were not accepted and notify them that the items must be retrieved by the owner within 30 days of notification. Items not retrieved by the owner within 30 days after notification will be disposed of at the discretion of the Museum Coordinator and without any liability to the Museum, Museum staff, City of Louisville, or Historical Commission members. 4.10 Every item entering the Museum's collections shall receive a catalog number that includes an accession number. Related archival items may be assigned one number. The Museum uses PastPerfect museum cataloging software to catalog items in the collections. 4.11 Donation and registration records, including deaccessioning records, shall be kept and maintained in perpetuity. Paper copies of collection records will be stored at the Museum. 7