Acquisition

This document was written, and licensed for publication by the Collections Trust.

Acquisition is a Primary Procedure. This means that in order to meet the documentation requirements for the Museum Accreditation Scheme an organisation must reach the SPECTRUM Minimum Standard for this procedure.

Acquisition includes separate activities such as:

  • Deciding whether to acquire the object for the: permanent collections; handling collections; auxiliary collections; research collections, etc;
  • Establishing legal transfer (See the Cultural Property Advice website for more infomation);
  • Allocation of a unique number and labelling and/or (where possible) physically marking the object with it;
  • Entry in accession register (if an addition to the permanent collections);
  • Entry in any other appropriate register or listing (if not part of the permanent collections).

SPECTRUM defines Acquisition as:

Documenting and managing the addition of objects and associated information to the collections of the organisation and their possible accession to the permanent collections.

The organisation must have a policy covering the acquisition of objects, which should include a collecting policy.

The procedure must:

  • Ensure that written evidence is obtained of the original title to an object and the transfer of the title to the acquiring organisation (See the Cultural Property Advice website for more infomation);
  • Enable the reconciling of acquisition records with objects as part of retrospective documentation, audit and inventory activity;
  • Ensure that a unique number is assigned to, and physically associated with, all objects;
  • Ensure that accession registers are maintained, describing all acquisitions and listing them by number;
  • Ensure that information about the acquisition process is retained;
  • Ensure that donors are made aware of the terms on which their gift or bequest is accepted by the organisation;
  • Ensure that collecting complies with the organisation's collecting policy, and does not contravene any local, national or international law, treaty or recognised code of practice;
  • Ensure a copy of the information in the accession register is made and kept up to date.

Getting Started

The best place to start is with the Collections Trust's publication Documentation: a practical guide (see ' Shop' for further information).

Guidelines and Factsheets

SPECTRUM Standard Procedure

For the full procedure on Acquisition, download SPECTRUM from: www.collectionstrust.org.uk/spectrum

Problem Solving

The Cultural Property Advice website contains guidance on what to do when something goes wrong with an acquisition. The following checklists taken from the website cover different aspects of acquisition to help to prevent problems from arising during this process and the final document offers up to date resources to check:

The Accreditation Resource Directory on Collections Link contains resources which are useful whether or not you are applying for accreditation. Go to 4.1 Acquisition and Disposal Policy for full resources. The following are a selection of the most relevant:


© All material on Collections Link, copyright MDA and other National Organisations 2006, all rights reserved

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