Department of the Interior
Departmental Manual
Effective Date: 3/19/97
Series: Property Management
Part 411: Managing Museum Property
Chapter 3: Standards for Managing Museum Property
Originating Office: Office of Acquisition and Property Management
411 DM 3
3.1 Apply standards consistently. Our standards for managing museum property are based on Departmental policy and on professional museum practices. They apply to all Departmental museum property, both in bureau and non-bureau facilities. When you cannot meet the standards, explain the reasons in writing, estimate the resources needed to correct the deficiency, and recommend needed action(s) to your bureau reviewing official. The reviewing official must evaluate the risks and available resources, and decide whether or not to approve programming for the action(s) that you recommend. Pending permanent corrective actions, you must take temporary actions necessary to reduce deterioration due to environmental conditions, and to limit damage, loss, and misuse of museum property. For example, move museum objects that are threatened to a safer location or create microenvironments to reduce fluctuations in the environment.
3.2 Use these Standards to Preserve and Protect Museum Property in Storage and Exhibit Spaces. You must use the following standards for preventive conservation of museum property in storage or on exhibit. Refer to 411 DM 3.3 for standards for museum property in Administrative Offices.
A. Environmental Standards. You must house museum property and associated documents in a safe, stable environment, appropriate to the specific environmental needs of the individual material type. This will reduce the museum property's rate of deterioration, prolong its life, and minimize the need for conservation treatment. You must consider the goals of energy conservation in the decision-making process for controlling relative humidity and temperature. Specific standards for temperature, relative humidity, light, pests, and air pollution are:
(1) Temperature.
(a) Monitor and record temperature levels;
(b) Avoid abrupt changes in temperature;
(c) Maintain temperature within the recommended range of 21°C to 23°C (70°F to 74°F) in exhibit and storage spaces where human comfort is a factor; and you may
(d) Reduce gradually the temperature level for mixed collections to a cooler level if you can avoid condensation of moisture on cold surfaces in storage spaces where human comfort is not a factor.
(2) Relative Humidity (RH).
(a) Monitor and record relative humidity levels;
(b) Maintain relative humidity within an acceptable range and avoid extreme levels and wide fluctuations;
(c) Establish acceptable ranges and limits of relative humidity for each unit, based on the local climate, the nature and condition of the materials constituting the collection, the RH levels to which the materials have been acclimatized, the structure housing museum property, and other relevant factors; ideally, fluctuations should not exceed "3% RH per month;
(d) Maintain relative humidity levels below 65% RH to reduce the potential for mold growth;
(e) Maintain relative humidity levels above 35% RH to prevent desiccating and shrinking of organic materials; and
(f) Record data continuously for one year, and evaluate the data before establishing acceptable ranges and limits.
(3) Light (visible). Monitor and record levels of visible light in exhibit and storage spaces. Control both the level and duration of exposure to visible light when illuminating light-sensitive objects. The illuminance levels for light-sensitive materials must be below these levels:
(a) 50 lux (5 foot-candles) for especially light-sensitive materials (for example, dyed organic material, textiles, watercolors, tapestries, prints and drawings, manuscripts, dyed leather, wallpapers, natural history specimens such as botanical specimens, fur and feathers, and original photographs, including negatives, transparencies, and prints);
(b) 200 lux (20 foot-candles) for undyed and untreated organic materials, oil paintings and tempera paintings, and finished wooden surfaces;
(c) Generally, other materials are less sensitive to light and may be exposed to higher levels, up to a maximum of 300 lux (30 foot-candles). When these materials are housed with light-sensitive materials, control light at levels appropriate for the most sensitive materials; and
(d) Except for short durations required for access or housekeeping, no light is acceptable for museum property in storage.
(4) Ultraviolet Radiation. Monitor and record the level of ultraviolet (UV) radiation from all sources. If the UV radiation level exceeds 75 micro watts per lumen, control it by installing UV-filtering material. Monitor and record UV radiation levels periodically to ensure that the filtering material is effective.
(5) Pests. Carry out an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Program in all spaces housing museum property. This will limit pest damage and reduce the amounts of pesticides you use. Refer to 517 DM, Pesticides.
(6) Air Pollution. As appropriate, monitor and record gaseous and particulate pollution. Control levels of gaseous and particulate pollution to the lowest practical limits.
B. Security Standards. You must secure storage and exhibit spaces and limit access to curatorial staff and people you determine to have a legitimate reason to enter.
(1) Record visitor and researcher access to storage areas using a consistent system (e.g., a sign-in log);
(2) Control access to and use of keys and combinations through written procedures;
(3) Write and consistently implement opening and closing procedures for storage and exhibit spaces;
(4) Write policies and procedures for access to museum property and museum records;
(5) Use an appropriate combination of mechanical and electronic security systems; and
(6) Address any special needs of the museum property in an emergency management plan.
C. Fire Protection Standards. You must install equipment and/or systems to detect and suppress fire in storage and exhibit spaces housing museum property.
(1) Select systems appropriate to the nature of museum property in the space, and to the structure in which you house it;
(2) Make spaces housing museum property fire-resistant to the extent possible given the nature of the structure;
(3) Store museum property records in an appropriate fire- and burglary-resistant container or vault, and lock it when not in use;
(4) Address the needs of museum property in preventing, detecting, and suppressing fire in a fire plan; and
(5) Avoid storing flammable liquids in the museum property storage area.
D. Housekeeping, Physical Examination, and Conservation Treatment Standards. You must follow housekeeping standards, physically examine museum objects, and arrange for appropriate conservation treatment.
(1). Housekeeping Standards.
(a) Clean museum property storage and exhibit spaces on a regular schedule;
(b) Write and use rules and procedures for handling and housekeeping;
(c) Write and use rules to prohibit smoking, drinking, and eating; and
(d) Maintain and calibrate equipment (for example, hygrothermographs) you use to monitor relative humidity and temperature according to the manufacturer's recommendations.
(2) Physical Examination Standards. Examine museum property regularly to detect evidence of deterioration, and document the results.
(3) Conservation Treatment Standards. Arrange to treat museum property to stabilize its condition, if it is identified as unstable, following professional conservation standards and practices.
E. Storage and Exhibit Space Standards. You must follow additional museum property standards specific to the following types of spaces:
(1) Storage Standards. Safe and secure storage of museum property requires dedicated space.
(a) Provide storage space(s) large enough for existing museum property;
(b) Plan space to accommodate collection growth you anticipate;
(c) Provide dedicated storage space in all newly constructed and remodeled museum property storage facilities;
(d) Provide dedicated storage space in all existing storage facilities to the extent possible;
(e) Organize storage space to allow for the efficient use of storage equipment and techniques;
(f) Provide for optimum, effective access to museum property;
(g) House museum property in appropriate equipment and containers and use appropriate museum-quality materials for packaging; and
(h) Use materials and techniques that protect museum property from damage due to shock or vibration when storing museum property in high-risk earthquake zones.
(2) Exhibit Standards. Objects on exhibit are more likely to deteriorate, or to be stolen or vandalized than objects in storage.
(a) Exhibit museum property in ways that minimize risks;
(b) Consider how best to preserve, protect, and maintain museum property when planning exhibits;
(c) Design and fabricate exhibit cases in ways that promote security, housekeeping, and preservation of the museum property;
(d) Protect freestanding museum objects by using an appropriate combination of physical, electronic, and staffing methods;
(e) Substitute environmentally sensitive objects on a scheduled basis to minimize deterioration;
(f) Use mounts constructed of museum-quality material to support objects when necessary; and
(g) Avoid exhibiting original documents whenever possible; use copies instead.
3.3 Use these Standards to Preserve and Protect Museum Property in Administrative Office Space. You must preserve and protect museum property that you display in administrative offices by meeting the following requirements.
A. Security and Fire Protection Standards.
(1) Control keys to office space and display cases;
(2) Implement written opening and closing procedures;
(3) Provide written guidance on how to safely evacuate museum property that is at risk because of an impending disaster, giving priority to human health and safety;
(4) Establish security against unauthorized entry to office space housing museum property;
(5) Write policies and procedures for preventing, detecting, and suppressing fire in your facility fire plan;
(6) Put in place written policies and procedures for access to and moving museum property; and
(7) Prohibit smoking in areas housing museum property.
B. Environmental Standards.
(1) Monitor, record, evaluate, and control relative humidity and temperature to the extent possible;
(2) Keep rapid fluctuations of relative humidity and temperature to a minimum and avoid harmful extremes;
(3) Monitor and control ultraviolet radiation to the standard required by 411 DM 3.2A(4);
(4) Monitor and control visible light to the extent practical, following the standard in 411 DM 3.2A(3); and
(5) Monitor space and materials for pest infestations, and control pests following the Departmental pesticide policy in 517 DM.
C. Standards for Displaying Museum Property.
(1) Provide written guidance for handling and housekeeping;
(2) Secure two-dimensional art in a frame with a protective backing;
(3) Mat watercolor paintings, prints, and drawings with archival-quality material and protect them with glass or another appropriate material;
(4) Display museum property in areas that provide protection from accidental damage;
(5) Prohibit using museum property for secondary functions (for example, using an ethnographic basket as a container for waste or plants);
(6) Hang textiles so that their weight is evenly distributed; and
(7) Prevent metals and untreated wood from touching textiles;.
3.4 Use these Standards to Document Museum Property. You must document all museum property in an information system containing the mandatory data for each activity described below. We recommend that you supplement mandatory data with optional data, appropriate to the discipline, selected from the "Highly Recommended Data" section in Appendices L through P in the Museum Property Handbook (411 DM Volume II). You must retain museum records that the unit or bureau needs for current business with the museum property they document. You must retain original museum records for museum property that you deaccession, and should provide a copy of the museum records to the recipient of the deaccessioned property. Restrict access to sensitive data to aid in protecting the resource, especially specific locality and provenience information.
Make sure that official records needed to manage museum property are appraised and included in your records disposition schedule, and, as necessary, are certified to the Archivist of the United States as needed for current business.
A. Accessioning Standards. You can accession museum property by donation, purchase, transfer, or field collection, and, depending on bureau-specific authority, by exchange. Your designated authority must review and approve all accession actions.
(1) Record as a single accession transaction the acquisition of one or more object(s) in the same manner, from one source at one time, for the museum property collection;
(2) Avoid restrictions on the future use of acquisitions;
(3) Complete a transfer of title (ownership) and/or custody signed by authorized parties;
(4) Include transfer of all copyrights where appropriate;
(5) Use the following acid-free materials:
-- a bound accession book
-- an accession form
-- an accession receiving report or equivalent
-- an accession folder
An exception to the bound accession book is allowed if you record the catalog records (411 DM 3.4B) sequentially in a bound acid-free book, as is common with natural history collections;
(6) Record mandatory data for each accession in the accession book or in supplementary documents filed in the accession folder. If they are filed elsewhere, you must note their locations in the accession folder; and
(7) Use these mandatory data for accessions:
-- Accession number
-- Source of accession (individual), or
-- Source of accession (institution) and responsible official
-- Complete Address of source of accession
-- Telephone number of source of accession
-- Date received
-- Date of accession
-- Type of accession
-- Description
-- Project name (as appropriate)
-- Catalog number(s) within the accession
-- Item total
Actual
Estimate
Bulk count
B. Cataloging Standards. You must ensure that cataloging places museum property in the appropriate disciplinary classification to provide access.
(1) Record the physical description; associations with people, resources, or events; interpretive and research data about object(s); and museum property management data (for example, current location and item count);
(2) Catalog objects appropriately for the discipline;
(3) Assign a unique identifying catalog number to an object or group of objects, and document your actions completely;
(4) Complete all categories for which data are available; and
(5) Use these mandatory data for cataloging:
(a) For all Museum Property:
-- Accession number
-- Catalog number
-- Discipline classification type
-- Object name
-- Unit acronym and/or identifier
-- Controlled property
-- Item count
Item count
Lot
Bulk
-- Current location
-- Description
-- Date cataloged
(b) For Cultural Resources (Archeology Only):
-- Site of original collection and/or
provenience
Include, as available,
Field site number
State site number
Site name or other identification
Within-site provenience
UTM coordinates, or
Latitude and longitude, or
Township/range/section
Collection unit
Place name
County
State
Country (if other than the United States)
(c) For Natural History Specimens:
-- Type specimen (if designated)
-- Collecting locality
Include, as available,
Collection locality name
UTM coordinates, or
Latitude and longitude, or
Township/range/section
Collection unit
Place name
County
State
Country (if other than the United States)
-- Collector
-- Collector's number
-- Collection date
-- Preservative and/or preparation
C. Inventory Standards.
(1) Annual Inventories. Bureaus must physically verify, or verify in writing through appropriate instruments, the presence and condition of museum property listed in the inventory for property located in both Federal and non-Federal repositories. You must do the following annual inventories:
(a) A 100% inventory of all controlled museum property, unless a bureau-designated authority has approved an exception and an alternate plan for units holding large amounts of controlled museum property;
(b) A random sample inventory of all other cataloged museum property, unless the collection has fewer than 250 cataloged objects, in which case a 100% inventory is required; and
(c) A 100% inventory, by accession number (that is, by number of containers rather than by individual objects), of all accessioned but as yet uncataloged museum property, unless the collection has 25 or more accessions that are not yet cataloged, in which case a random sample may be used;
(2) Other Inventories.
(a) A 100% inventory of all museum property may be required if there is an indication that a substantial loss has occurred or a significant number of items are unaccounted for; and
(b) A 100% inventory or a certification is required whenever the designation of accountability changes (410 DM).
(3) Mandatory Inventory Requirements. An inventory must verify the:
(a) Item count;
(b) Location of the object;
(c) Accuracy of the record;
(d) Accuracy of the object number wherever it occurs; and
(e) Condition of the object.
(4) Reconciling Inventories. You must reconcile the inventories of museum property. You do not reconcile museum property records to a general ledger account. You must accession and catalog items found during the inventory, but not previously listed in the museum records, following 411 DM 3.4A and 3.4B. For missing museum property, you must:
(a) Process Reports of Survey (DI-103) in compliance with 410 DM;
(b) Deaccession the museum property, as appropriate, when the Board of Survey action is completed; and
(c) You may ask the Department of the Interior Inspector General to investigate the situation as described in 355 DM, Departmental Investigations, Part 2, Scope of Investigations and Reporting Requirements and 410 DM, Property Irregularities.
(5) Certifying Inventories. You must certify in writing to the bureau Property Management Officer the status of your annual inventories of museum property and their reconciliation.
D. Loan Standards. You must:
(1) Document each loan (both incoming and outgoing) by assigning a unique number and completing a loan agreement, cooperative agreement, memorandum of agreement, or similar instrument; use a system of tracking (for example, record all loan transactions in a bound acid-free book);
(2) Include conditions for shipping, handling, and insurance in the loan agreement;
(3) Include an itemized list of museum property in the loan agreement;
(4) Obtain the authorized signatures of both the borrower and lender on all agreements;
(5) Store all agreements in acid-free folders;
(6) Seek blanket approval from the Archivist of the United States for all outgoing loans of permanent records to non-Federal recipients, as required by 36 CFR 1228.76;
(7) Lend museum property only for official purposes;
(8) Prevent Museum property from being used for commercial purposes or private pecuniary gain except where specifically authorized by law or by your designated authority;
(9) Lend to institutions, organizations and governmental agencies that are qualified to handle museum property;
(10) Avoid making outgoing loans to individuals; and
(11) Document these mandatory data for all loan agreements:
-- Loan number
-- Loan type
Incoming, or
Outgoing
-- Duration
Short-term loan, or
Long-term loan
-- Purpose of loan
Exhibit
Study
Conservation
Exhibit preparation
Curation
Storage
Other
-- Borrower
Borrower name
Department
Institution or unit
Complete borrower address
Telephone number
Responsible official
-- Lender
Lender name
Department
Institution or unit
Complete lender address
Telephone number
Responsible official
-- Transaction dates
Date of agreement
Date agreement terminates
Date object(s) sent or received
Date object(s) returned
-- Objects in loan
Catalog number
Item count
Object name
Description
Condition
Value
-- Credit line from lender
-- Insurance
-- Packing and shipping
-- Loan return status
E. Other Temporary Custody Standards. Use a temporary custody receipt or equivalent document when you hold museum property in temporary custody (for example, for purposes of identification, review for possible donation, or examination for purchase).
(1) Use the receipt only for short-term custody without insurance;
(2) Obtain the authorized signatures of both the borrower and lender on the receipt; and
(3) Limit use of temporary custody receipts to a time limit for short-term custody set by your bureau.
F. Deaccessioning Standards. If you work in a bureau with disposal authority for museum property, comply with these deaccession procedures. Reports of Survey due to loss, theft, damage, destruction, or abandonment (410 DM) may lead to deaccessioning.
(1) Follow deaccessioning ethics standards:
(a) Prohibit any bureau employee from acquiring deaccessioned bureau museum property (or financial interest therein);
(b) Prohibit any employee from appearing to benefit personally in any way as a result of a deaccession action and subsequent disposition; and
(c) Avoid any real or apparent conflict of interest, as defined and described in 5 CFR 2635 and related supplement, "Employee Responsibilities and Conduct;"
(2) Hold to the principles of 41 CFR 101-43 to 101-46, which discuss use, donation, sale, abandonment, destruction, and disposal of personal property;
(3) Catalog all objects proposed for deaccessioning, as appropriate to the discipline, before deaccessioning them;
(4) Assign a unique number to each deaccession and document it using the following acid-free materials:
-- Deaccession form
-- Folder
-- Bound deaccession book
Maintain all of these at the unit or at a location the bureau designates;
(5) Ensure that your designated authority reviews, approves and signs all deaccessioning actions;
(6) Use all proceeds that are available to the bureau from deaccession actions to acquire museum property; and
(7) Use these mandatory data for deaccessioning:
-- Deaccession number
-- List of catalog numbers and object names
-- Item count of objects
-- Designated authority name
-- Date deaccession approved
-- Disposition
-- Date disposition approved
-- Date deaccessioned
3/19/97 #3143
Replaces 1/8/93 #2967