Museums are established to tell the life, history, art, culture, stories of people, places, or events. The only way for museums to thrive successfully is to have a great support from donors and the surrounding communities. It is a mission of museums to entertain, educate, and inform their patrons of cultures, individuals, and many stories that have been untold for a long time. It opens up a world for those young and old to understand and appreciate the arts and humanities. There is no other field I could think of that is so rewarding to go to work everyday. The stories and lives displayed in museum exhibits around the world are remarkable, but it is hard to find ones like those in small town museums.
It is crucial part of museums to have donors when they are wanting to give their items to be thorough with museum paperwork. This is a beneficial step to all collections. A museum has a mission for a reason to serve a goal and purpose to its patrons to provide exhibits and activities that fall into a specific time period, region, or category. Many museums including the ones I work with have Collections Committee that evaluate all donations. These committees discuss what has been brought in over the past few months, because usually these committees will meet monthly or bi-monthly. It varies depending the institution and their policies.
No one museum is the same and not all donations are appropriate for every museum. For example, the two museums in the area I work with are the Dobson Museum at Miami, OK and Miners Hall Museum in Franklin, KS. The Dobson Museum was established in 1972 after the passing of Miss Nellie Dobson in 1968. She left funds in her will to construct and maintain the museum. The original Ottawa County Historical Museum was opened in 1963 on the 2nd floor of the Dobson Building/Old McWilliams Opera House in Downtown Miami. After completion of the museum all collections were moved to the new museum, because many of the volunteers and patrons could not climb the stairs to get to the museum being on the 2nd floor. The mission of the museum to collect, preserve, and exhibit Ottawa County History. The museum only collects items that pertain to Ottawa County History, not other counties, states, or people who never lived in Ottawa County. The collections committee assesses the relevance of the artifacts and makes recommendations, which go before the board for final decisions. Some cases it may not be the only reason an item could not be accepted by a museum. A museum may not have the funds, space, or time to care for a particular artifact. Many museums are limited with storage and exhibit capacities. The Miners Hall Museum collects, preserves, and exhibits the coal mining history of Cherokee and Crawford Counties in Kansas. Their mission is to preserve a certain type of mining for a certain region. This museum opened in 2012 after being a dream for many which turned into a reality in the Spring of 2012. The museum was host to a Smithsonian Traveling Exhibit in the Summer of 2013. The museum has grown so rapidly, that it is working on a fundraising campaign to construct a new addition on the west side of the existing building, which is the Franklin Community Center.
A great question to ask when being interested in donating to a museum is asking what the mission of the museum is and if they have a collections policy available. Some museums may not have a collections policy. Most collections policy are drafted by paid employees, but however some cases it occurs with volunteer collections committees. A greater understanding to know a scope of collections and the overall mission and vision allow you to find a suitable institution to place artifacts, documents, and images into a preserved collection.
Museum forms often used with processing of collections are: Deed of Gift, Loan Agreements, Background History, Inventory Form, or Condition Reports to name a few of the forms used within museums. A crucial part of operating a museum is to have appropriate paperwork for artifacts and collections within a museum. A Deed of Gift is used as it speaks for its self as a form filled by a donor to deed an artifact or group of artifacts to a museum, repository, or institution. The donor has responsibility when completing paperwork to be thorough by making sure all their contact information is correct and a detailed listing of what is being deeded or loaned, if they are completing a loan agreement. Background History form is used to gain as much information on the artifact, owner, and donor as possible. Did this item come from the donor's great-grandparents, an auction, garage sale, the attic, or did the donor actually build the artifact being contributed to the museum. The museum, repository, or institution is better able to care for and preserve the artifact if they know exactly what it is, where it came from, and any and all stories associated with the artifact. An inventory form or in some cases a catalog record form keeps a listing of where to locate an artifact when inside a museum, whether it be in exhibition or storage. A condition report is used in cases of traveling exhibits or damage to a collection based upon fire, natural disaster, etc. The condition report is filled out to give the status an artifact based on being destroyed or broken within a collection. There are certain cases where museums will loan exhibits to other museums if they are assembling a special exhibit. A condition report is to be completed upon, loading, unloading, exhibiting of the artifact from its home museum and the host museums.
There are rare cases where a museum will loan a collection to another for an extended period of time in most cases it would be between six to nine months. A museum does not exist without donors, but a museum would not be able to function if it did not provide accurate and efficient measures to preserve and collect with proper paperwork for the museum collections.
If you are interested in donating or have any questions about the Dobson Museum in Miami, OK or Miners Hall Museum in Franklin, KS, please contact me I would be glad to visit with you about these fine museum establishments in the Four States. Please visit their websites and keep updated on events by liking them on Facebook to follow the latest news.
Dobson Museum
110 A SW
Miami, OK 74354
(918)-542-5388
ochs@dobsonmuseum.com
www.dobsonmuseum.com
Hours: Wednesday-Friday-Sunday - 1-4 pm
Miners Hall Museum
701 S Broadway
Franklin, KS 66735
(620)-347-4220
minershallmuseum@gmail.com
www.minershallmuseum.com
Hours: Monday-Saturday - 10am-4pm
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Any questions about museums or anything about my blog feel free to contact me at jordan_boyd@live.com.
