Students can contact me through email at any time although I encourage you to ask questions in Google Classroom or though the ongoing discussions as other students may have the same questions.
I will try to login to Google Classroom and check email every day but please allow 24-hours for a response. I will be monitoring your discussions but will not be able to respond to every one of them. I will make sure to alert the class if I will be unreachable for more than 24-hours.
Assignment grades will be submitted through Google Classroom or through email. Assignments that include everyone’s class participation will be monitored more frequently and I’ll comment or reach out if I feel you need to add or change anything.
This course will cover the essential elements of the management of museum collections including collection policy, legal and ethical concerns, artifact handling, documentation, information management, preservation, exhibition and access. Museum collections that will be studied include collections of art, history, natural history, science and moving image/multimedia. Course topics will be demonstrated through videos, discussions, case-studies, reading, and various activities. Assignments include researching various topics and discussing them in online forums, working with a class museum, creating an online collection record through E-Hive, and grant proposal.
All reading will be provided on Google Drive or through linked URL's.
Each week lectures/discussions will be posted on Monday (unless there is a Monday holiday). You will be asked to complete the required reading and assignment by the following Sunday. That will give you seven days for each weeks assignments, reading and discussion. Please pay attention to when each assignment is due. If you cannot complete the weeks assignments by the end of the week please let me know ASAP. Also, the discussions are set up so that you can engage with your classmates. I encourage you do so.
This course is online only so there will be assignments through this class website and Google Classroom.
To access the Google Classroom go to https://classroom.google.com and select the plus sign and join class. Put in code erltlkn
Read through the topic overview and then go to Google Classroom. Introduce yourself, watch the video and and contribute to the first discussion topic by Sunday February 7. Also, read through your classmates responses engage in conversations about these topics. Please remember that this is a discussion and do not wait until the end of the week to introduce yourself and add all of your comments.
Museum Inside Out: What Does a Registrar Do? Milwaukee Art Museum 2:16 minutes
A Day in the Life - Museum Curator. Denver Art Museum. 6:34 minutes
Museopunks Episode 39: A new definition of “museum”?
Dr. Elizabeth Rodini, "1. A brief history of the art museum," in Smarthistory, June 1, 2019
Follow the instructions and then add to the discussion topic in on Google Classroom by Sunday February 14.
Buck, R. A., & Gilmore, J. A. Section 2A- Collection management policies. MRM5: Museum registration methods. Washington, DC: AAM, American Alliance of Museums. 2010.
Abram, Ruth J. History is as History Does: The Evolution of a Mission Driven Museum. Looking Reality in the Eye: Museums and Social Responsibility. Pages 19-32. Available on Google Books and JSTOR.
American Alliance of Museums. Developing a Collection Management Policy.
AAM https://www.aam-us.org/programs/accreditation-excellence-programs/core-documents-verification/
On Google Classroom watch the video on Cultural Property, Native American Collections (NAGPRA) and Federal Laws and Regulations , stolen Artwork & Artifacts during wartime and add to the discussion topic in by Sunday February 21.
Select one of the articles or videos listed on the weekly outline and discuss in Google Classroom.
American Alliance of Museums Ethics, Standards, and Professional Practices
Read through the New Acquisitions page and watch the video. Come up with a "donation" for our class museum- the Museum of Vaudeville. Read through the Mission and Scope and Content on the Museum Website and add a Page with your donation to add to the discussion topic in Google Classroom by Sunday February 29.
(You have access to edit the website when you're logged into your google account and go to https://sites.google.com/new ).
Buck, R. A., & Gilmore, J. A. Section 3B- Acquisition & accessioning. MRM5: Museum registration methods. Washington, DC: AAM, American Alliance of Museums. 2010.
Buck, R. A., & Gilmore, J. A. Section 3D- Provenance research in museum collections. MRM5: Museum registration methods. Washington, DC: AAM, American Alliance of Museums. 2010.
Detroit Institute of Arts. #4 Fakes, Forgeries, and Mysteries: The Head of a King
Kimmelman, Michael. Absolutely Real? Absolutely Fake? New York Times. August 4, 1991
Read the Accessioning page, watch the video and post an answer to one of the hypothetical questions presented on the Google Classroom.
Buck, R. A., & Gilmore, J. A. MRM5: Museum registration methods. Washington, DC: AAM, American Alliance of Museums. 2010.
Section 3A- Initial custody and documentation.
Section 3B- Acquisition & accessioning.
Community Museums Association of Prince Edward Island. Accessioning Museum Collections. An Overview.
Read the Deaccessioning page and then answer the proposed topic question in Google Classroom and complete the quiz by Sunday March 14 .
Detroit Institute of Arts. Behind the Scenes at the DIA, Part 2. In this section, Director Graham Beal introduces the process of deaccessioning at his museum. The assistant registrar goes through the steps required. 12:25 minutes. Note the last sentence is cut off.
Euphronios Krater Returned. New York Times. January 19, 2008.
Read the Museum Collection Storage and Processing Collections page. Answer the question posted on Google Classroom by Sunday March 21.
Detroit Institute of Arts. Behind the Scenes at the DIA, Parts 1 Storage
From Here to There Museum Standards for Object Handling. 3:14 minutes
Western Australian Museum. Handling Objects. 5:25 minutes.
Buck, R. A., & Gilmore, J. A. (2010). 5H: Storage. MRM5: Museum registration methods (pp. 38-52, 62-73, 206-208). Washington, DC: AAM, American Alliance of Museums.
Please read through the Disaster Planning page, watch the video and answer the questions posted on Google Classroom by Sunday April 4. Your due date is extended through the end of spring recess to give you enough time to complete this assignment.
American Alliance of Museums. Developing a Disaster Preparedness/Emergency Response Plan.
Read through the Loans page and answer the question posted on the Google Classroom and complete the quiz by Sunday April 11.
Your Art on Loan - Purchasing Fine Art Insurance
Horniman Museum and Gardens: The Walrus Move
U.S. Department of the Interior Guidance for Incoming Loans of Museum Collections
Read the cataloging page, watch the video, and then go to Google Classroom for instructions on creating your e-hive page, due by Sunday April 18.
Gallery Systems. Best Practices For Collections Documentation and Object Cataloguing.
Categories for the Description of Works of Art (Getty Research Institute)." The Getty. Web. 2016
Visual Resource Association, Cataloging Cultural Objects (browse the different summaries and selections on this site, we will be discussing in further detail and you should at least be familiar with what this is.)
Read through the Museum Informatics page and then answer the question on Google Classroom by Sunday April 25.
Simon, Nina (2006). What Is Museum 2.0? Retrieved February 10, 2014 from (Also browse through the postings on this blog. There are some great posts.)
Watanabe, Myrana. The Evolution of Natural History Collections. BioScience,69(3), 163-169. August 4, 2019.
Pantalony, Rina Elster. Museum Scholarly Communications and Copyright Law: A Call for Balanced and Nuanced Exceptions Premised on Museum Mission and Mandate. Museum International. 2016, Vol. 68 Issue 3/4, p110-117. 9p.
Read through the Exhibits page, watch the video and then answer the question on Google Classroom.Required Reading & Video by Sunday May 2.
TheArtGallery. Think Like a Curator. How to Design an Exhibition.
Please read through the Budgets, Fundraising, and Grant Writing page, watch the video and pose any questions you might have on Google Classroom by Sunday May 9..
If you have not already, come up with a topic to write your final grant proposal on. Read the above resources and determine if you want to request a grant for preservation, cataloging, exhibition, disaster management or any of the various topics we've been covering. Please ask me questions or let me know if you need resources.
The guidelines for the grant proposal are available here and an example is available here.
Ceruti, Mary. How to Raise the Money You Need to Run a Thriving Museum—While Preserving Your Independence. ArtNet. September 11, 2018.
Funding for Collections Care (you scan skip the first 12 minutes of this webinar).
Please read through the Reproduction and Usage page and answer the posted question on Google Classroom. by Sunday May 16.
Korn, Naomi. Copyright for Museums and Galleries
Buck, R. A., & Gilmore, J. A. (2010). Section 7D: Copyright and 7E: Photographic Services and Rights. In MRM5: Museum registration methods (pp. 38-52, 62-73, 206-208). Washington, DC: AAM, American Alliance of Museums.
Read through the wrap-up page and post to the Google Classroom by Sunday May 24.
ARLIS/NA. State of Art Museums White Paper. 2016.
You are required to contribute to all discussions by voicing your own opinion and commenting on your classmate’s postings under each weekly topic. You will also be asked to contribute to projects outside of the discussion groups.
Two quizzes will be posted in Google Classroom on March 1 and April 28. They are each worth 10% of your grade.
You will be asked to write a grant narrative, including statement of the problem, intended results, plan of work for a project of your choice (preservation, conservation, exhibition, access, processing, cataloging) up to $75,000 for the Museum of Vaudeville (or another museum of your choosing.)
The overarching goals of this course are to provide you with essential elements of the management of museum collections including collection policy, legal and ethical concerns, artifact handling, documentation, information management, preservation, exhibition and access. This will be achieved through class lectures, individual projects, in class activities, creation of online catalog and exhibit, and grant proposal.
GSLIS is committed to providing affordable programs and rigorous teaching to educate critically-minded, community-focused, and service-oriented professionals who will contribute to diverse information-intensive environments, the vitality of their local and global communities and the advancement of the LIS disciplines, research, and practice.
a) Through a rigorous yet flexible curriculum, GSLIS will prepare graduates for employment and service in a diverse, global, and rapidly changing information society
b) Through service to local, professional and other stakeholder communities, GSLIS will foster ethical, socially-minded leadership in its students
c) Through excellence in research, GSLIS will create new knowledge and contribute to the solution of today’s information problems
A. Enable access to information and knowledge, including its creation, acquisition, organization and management, storage and retrieval
B. Articulate the role and importance of ethics, values, lifelong learning and advocacy underlying the practice of the information professions
C. Apply appropriate standards, policies, tools and practices in various specializations of information science, as articulated by representative professional organizations
D. Design and conduct research studies, critically assess research claims, and synthesize and disseminate findings
E. Advocate for social justice, particularly in our metropolitan community, by understanding the needs, designing programs with, and amplifying the strengths of our underserved groups
F. Identify, evaluate and implement current and emerging technologies to create, store, and present information in a way such that users can access it, process it, and experience it
G. Explain and apply principles of effective management and leadership in the library and related information institutions in a rapidly changing society
Evaluation will be on a percentage system as detailed above. Grade assignment will follow the scholastic standards in the 2018-2019 Queens College Graduate Bulletin, p. 28
An incomplete (I) grade for the course will not be granted unless extenuating circumstances exist and with explicit, prior approval of the instructor and in compliance with the rules of the College. See the 2018-2019 Queens College Graduate Bulletin, p. 29 for additional information
Please note that falling behind in course work or receiving unsatisfactory grades do not, in themselves, constitute sufficient cause to receive an Incomplete.
(In other words, do not assume that you may simply choose to take an incomplete; this must be requested of the instructor with ample justification in writing; it is not guaranteed!)
ONLINE ETIQUETTE AND ANTI-HARASSMENT POLICY: The University strictly prohibits the use of University online resources or facilities for the purpose of harassment of any individual or for the posting of any material that is scandalous, libelous, offensive or otherwise against the University’s policies. Please see:
http://catalog.sps.cuny.edu/content.php?catoid=2&navoid=205
The Policy on Academic Integrity, as adopted by the Board is available to all candidates. Academic Dishonesty is prohibited in The City University of New York and is punishable by penalties, including failing grades, suspension, and expulsion. This policy and others related to candidates’ issues are available to you at: http://www2.cuny.edu/about/administration/offices/legal-affairs/policies-procedures/academic-integrity-policy/
All programs in New York State undergo periodic reviews by accreditation agencies. For these purposes, samples of candidates’ work are made available to those professionals conducting the review. Candidate anonymity is assured under these circumstances. If you do not wish to have your work made available for these purposes, please let the professor know before the start of the second class. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.
Candidates with disabilities needing academic accommodation should: 1) register with and provide documentation to the Special Services Office, Kiely 171; 2) Contact me indicating the need for accommodation and what type. This should be done during the first week of class. For more information about services available to Queens College candidates, contact: Special Service Office; 171 Kiely Hall; 718-997-5870 (8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.).