Here you can find further resources to help with the Spectrum procedure Acquisition and accessioning. For the procedure itself follow this link.
This toolkit is an introduction to contemporary collecting, for museum staff and volunteers who don’t have direct experience of acquiring recent material and who want to understand the basics. It aims to provide advice and guidance on how to undertake contemporary collecting projects, outlining some of the practical considerations that need to be made and showcasing examples from museums.
This resource outlines bulk accessioning and how to apply it to different collections.
This resource offers guidance on looking after your accession records to ensure they are secure and tamperproof.
This Act puts into UK law the 1954 Hague Convention and its two Protocols. Section 17 creates the offence of dealing in unlawfully exported cultural property.
Collections Trust supplies pre-printed, triplicate forms that support the Spectrum Acquisition procedure (a Spectrum Primary Procedure) and are used to transfer the ownership of an object from the owner to the museum.
Collections Trust supplies registers which are used by museum practitioners worldwide to manage museum collections. Accession registers support the Spectrum Acquisition procedure (a Spectrum Primary Procedure). They are used to create a permanent record of accessions to the museum’s long term collections.
This resource from National Museums Liverpool (NML) shows their full acquisition and disposal policy, including the policies and collecting priorities of different NML divisions and departments.
Whether you are working in museums, teaching, researching or studying, the Museum Ethnographers Group (MEG) is the central point of contact for museum ethnography.
This checklist will help you follow up lines of enquiry to establish the ownership and history of the object you are acquiring. It is a useful checklist for both cultural heritage and commercial organisations.
This resource provides a checklist for buying collections from online sources. It is list of considerations when purchasing a work of art or an antique from an online auction house.
These guidelines on the labelling and marking of museum objects were developed by the Collections Trust with the help of Vivien Chapman at the National Conservation Centre, National Museums Liverpool (NML).
As part of its work with documentation standards the Collections Trust (and its predecessor body MDA) has, since the 1970s, been developing and maintaining a scheme which allows the identification of UK collection-holding organisations and their collections through “codes” which are unique to each organisation.
This Act deals with finds of treasure in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is relevant to museums which are offered treasure as potential acquisitions, often as a result of a chance find or as part of an archaeological archive.
CITES is an international agreement between governments. This multilateral treaty aims to protect endangered plants and animals and relates to the acquisition of biological and geological material in developing collections.
This legislation applies to museums holding or intending to hold human remains under 100 years old. The Act regulates the acquisition, storage, use and disposal of human bodies, organs and tissue.
This legislation applies to museums holding or intending to hold human remains under 100 years old. The Act regulates the acquisition, storage, use and disposal of human bodies, organs and tissue.
This legislation refers to the acquisition of cultural property and makes it an offence to acquire, dispose of, import or export ‘tainted’ cultural objects, or agree or arrange to do so; and for connected purposes.
This legislation from United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is a multilateral international agreement dedicated to fighting the illicit trafficking of cultural property.
This resource from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport outlines good practice guidance for museums acquiring and holding human remains from any period and aims to offer practical support in the care of human remains in museums.
The Museum Association Code of Ethics defines the ethical principles which guide museum practice and underpin policy and practice regarding the development of museum collections.