Syllabus
LBSCI 7903: Museum Collection Development
Summer 2020 Semester
June 1- June 24, 2020
Online Course
INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION: Carey Stumm, email: carey.stumm@gmail.com
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.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
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.
REQUIRED PURCHASES: TEXTBOOK(S) AND SUPPLIES
All reading will be provided on Google Drive or through linked URL's.
SCHEDULE
Each week lectures/discussions will be posted on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Each discussion topic has a due date. Please pay attention to when each assignment is due. Also, the discussions are set up so that you can engage with your classmates. I encourage you do so.
Reading for each class should be completed prior to viewing the lecture or commenting on the discussions.
COURSE STRUCTURE
This course is online only so there will be assignments through our 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 4x2af7k
Monday June 1
To Do
Read Functions of the Museum page and then go to the Google Classroom. Introduce yourself and and contribute to the first discussion topic in by Tuesday June 2.
Required Reading
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
Tuesday June 2
To Do
Read the Collection Management Policy page then add to the discussion topic in https://classroom.google.com/ by Wednesday June 3.
Required Reading
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.
Familiarize yourself with
AAM https://www.aam-us.org/programs/accreditation-excellence-programs/core-documents-verification/
Wednesday June 3
To Do
Read the Ethics page about Cultural Property, Native American Collections (NAGPRA) and Fish & Wildlife Collection Federal Laws and Regulations , stolen Artwork & Artifacts during wartime. and add to the discussion topic in https://classroom.google.com/ by Thursday June 4.
Select one of the below articles or videos and discuss this week in Google Classroom. Let me know if there is a separate ethical or legal topic you would like to cover instead.
NPR, Hobby Lobby's Illegal Antiquities Shed Light On A Lost, Looted Ancient City In Iraq, June 28, 2018 (audio)
Smithsonian Magazine, Kennewick Man Finally Freed to Share His Secrets, September 2014
The Rape of Europa. The story of Nazi Germany's plundering of Europe's great works of art during WWII and Allied efforts to minimize the damage. (Also available on Netflix.)
Hoving, Thomas. Chapter 17 The Hot Pot. pgs. 307-340. Making the Mummies Dance.
Additional Required Reading
American Alliance of Museums Ethics, Standards, and Professional Practices
Thursday June 4
To do
Read through the New Acquisitions page. 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 June 7.
(You have access to edit the website when you're logged into your google account and go to https://sites.google.com/new ).
Required Reading
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
Monday June 8
To Do
Read the Accessions page and post an answer to one of the hypothetical questions presented on the Google Classroom by Tuesday June 9.
Required Reading & Video
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.
Tuesday June 9
To Do
Read the Deaccessioning page and then answer the proposed topic question in Google Classroom by Wednesday June 10.
Required Reading & Video
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.
Wednesday June 10
To Do
Read the Museum Collection Storage and Processing Collections page. Answer the question posted on Google Classroom by Thursday June 11.
Required Reading/Viewing
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.
Thursday June 11
Discussion Topic
Please read through the Disaster Planning page and answer the questions posted on Google Classroom by Sunday June 14.
Required Reading
American Alliance of Museums. Developing a Disaster Preparedness/Emergency Response Plan.
Monday June 15
Discussion Topic
Read through the Loans page and answer the question posted on the Google Classroom. by Tuesday June 16.
Required Reading & Video
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
Tuesday June 16
To Do
Read the cataloging page and then go to Google Classroom for instructions on creating your e-hive page.
Required Reading & Video
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.)
Wednesday June 17
To Do
Read through the Museum Informatics page and then answer the question on Google Classroom.
Required Reading
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.)
Recommended Reading
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.
Thursday June 18
Discussion Topic
Read through the Exhibits page and then answer the question on Google Classroom.Required Reading & Video
Museum Visit Exhibit Evaluations due by Sunday November 24
Required Reading
TheArtGallery. Think Like a Curator. How to Design an Exhibition.
Monday June 22
To Do
Please read through the Budgets, Fundraising, and Grant Writing page and pose any questions you might have on Google Classroom.
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.
Required Reading & Viewing
Funding for Collections Care (you scan skip the first 12 minutes of this webinar).
Tuesday June 23
Discussion Topic
Please read through the Reproduction and Usage page and answer the posted question on Google Classroom.
Required Reading
Wednesday June 24
Discussion Topic
Read through the wrap-up page and post to the Google Classroom.
Required Reading & Video
ARLIS/NA. State of Art Museums White Paper. 2016.
Grant Proposal Due by Sunday June 28. They should be submitted to me by email at carey.stumm@gmail.com
ASSIGNMENTS, DUE DATES AND GRADING PLAN
Assignment Descriptions
Participation in class discussions and activities (80% of your grade)
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.
Final Paper- Grant Proposal Narrative (20% 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.)
COURSE LEARNING GOALS & GSLIS PROGRAM OBJECTIVES: STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
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.
Student Learning Outcomes
Through the required readings and written assignments, discussions and activities, at the conclusion of this course, students will be able to:
- Establish Understanding of the ethical and legal responsibilities of a museum
- Comprehend the principals used in appraisal and selection
- Demonstrate the standards involved in housing museum collections
- Understand the best practices of cataloging and describing museum objects
- Apply the best practices for providing access and outreach for the museum
Legend GSLIS Program Objectives: Student Learning Outcomes
Program and course requirements in the GSLIS are designed to ensure that graduates have met the following Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs). These SLOS (A-H) state that graduates will have the ability to:
A. Assist users in gaining access to information and knowledge, including its creation, acquisition, organization and management, storage and retrieval, by demonstrating that they can:
1. Identify, acquire, create, organize, process, store and provide access to information in all its forms for libraries, cultural institutions and other information organizations in a global environment.
2. Identify, retrieve, evaluate and use general and specialized resources to address current and future information needs and provide related services to diverse user communities.
B. Articulate the role and importance of ethics, values, and advocacy within the legal and historical frameworks underlying the practice of librarianship and the information professions
C. Apply the appropriate practices and policies of established Library and Information Science professional standards in various specializations
D. Find, analyze, assess, apply, and conduct research in Library and Information Science and other disciplines in response to gaps in knowledge and practice
E. Contribute to a diverse, global society—including the role of addressing the needs of underserved groups--through exemplary Library and Information Science practice and research
F. Identify, evaluate and implement current and emerging technologies and services to meet the evolving information needs of diverse user communities in an increasingly interconnected environment.
G. Demonstrate understanding of the importance of continuing professional development in LIS; articulate and apply principles, theories and measures underlying the role of the library in supporting lifelong learning within the community.
H. Explain and apply principles of effective management and leadership in the library and related information institutions
Overall Course Grades
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
In-completes
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
CUNY POLICY ON ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
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/
USE OF CANDIDATE WORK
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.
REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS FOR CANDIDATES WITH DISABILITIES
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.).