IN A RECENT best-selling novel, the protagonist finds “an elegantly embossed card” in an exhibit case indicating that an object has been removed and loaned to another institution. The narrator explains that the card is called a loan log or a title card and is used by museum curators “in exchange for” an object that is on temporary loan (as if there were some other kind). The narrator then explains that two of these cards are printed for each object that is loaned—one card is exhibited to thank the lender (mistakenly called a “donor” in the novel) and the other held “as collateral” for the object on loan.1 Alas, but this is how misunderstood our profession is by the public at large—not only are there no such things as elegantly embossed cards used as collateral for loaned objects, the novel credits the curator, and not the registrar or collections manager, with conducting the loan process. Collections work is now, and has always been, largely invisible.2 Despite its invisibility, registration and collections care are the heart of the museum and are constantly evolving to meet new challenges.
A quantitative measure of the changes in the profession since the publication of the first edition of Museum Registration Methods (MRM) in 1958 can be made by comparing the size of the first edition with the fifth edition. The first edition was a modest 225 pages, weighed less than 1½ pounds, and included contributions from 15 professionals. By 2010, the fifth edition of the book (MRM5) had grown to 516 pages with contributions by 68 authors, and weighed in at 4 pounds.
While preparing this edition we have noted several significant differences compared to MRM5 that reflect recent changes in the profession. For one, the job titles registrar and collections manager are now virtually synonymous (see CHAPTER 1A, “A Very Brief History of the Profession”). This edition includes a new chapter on the management of extremely large collections—specifically, those of the National Park Service (see CHAPTER 1D, “Caring for the Nation’s Treasures—the National Park Service Museum Program”) but also retains chapters intended to help very small museums (e.g., chapter 4B, “Manual Systems”). What was “The Registrar’s Bookshelf” in previous editions now contains far more references to material available on the internet—so much that it has been renamed “Resources for Registrars and Collections Managers” in this edition and includes links to the American Institute of Conservation wiki,3 the Canadian Conservation Institute publications,4 Connecting to Collections,5 and the National Park Service Museum Management Program,6 among others. However, it is important for those of us in the profession to keep in mind that not everything has been scanned and posted on the web; there is still a significant body of information useful to registrars and collections managers that is available only in print form (particularly older information).
Unfortunately, along with the increase in useful information on registration and collections care, there has been an increase in bogus information. It is easy to find this stuff, such as the recent viral video of someone vigorously scrubbing the surface of a painting with a brush and an unknown solvent and scores of recommendations for inappropriate and damaging methods for cleaning and housing objects; it is not recommended to clean paintings by rubbing them with a raw potato, to de-acidify documents by submerging them in warm water with antacid tablets, to mark objects with nail polish, or to wrap things in tissue paper and store them in old egg cartons, yet this sort of bad advice persists on the internet and in television shows. Critical thinking and discernment are increasingly necessary skills for registrars and collections managers.
Another significant change is the nature of the materials being added to collections. In the decade since MRM5 was published, there has been a steady growth in born-digital artworks and documents. Born-digital objects pose serious preservation problems for museums because at present there are no reliable means to preserve digital information for the long term. The best we can do is embark on expensive programs of continual file conversion as software and hardware change, although we know from past experience that file conversion ultimately results in data deterioration and loss.
The role of provenance research in museums is increasingly important for documenting and preserving objects, particularly with the increase in looting of cultural patrimony occurring worldwide, from Latin America to Africa and particularly in recent zones of conflict in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and other locations in the Middle East. A recent exhibit at the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha (Qatar) called “Syria Matters” highlighted the destruction of cultural heritage with 120 exquisite objects from the collections of museums around the world. That such an exhibit could be assembled is the result of the work of dozens of nameless registrars and collections managers who labor behind the scenes to document and preserve objects of significance to humanity. That this exhibit needed to be assembled is a sad testimony to the threats to cultural heritage worldwide.
The challenges we face in the future are many and complex. Museum collections continue to grow as objects are added, while the objects already in the collections are aging and deteriorating; at the same time, there are fewer collections care staff members relative to the size of collections in museums and far less funding for collections care is available than in the past. It may seem to be an uncertain future, but registrars and collections managers are enormously creative and resilient and what we do is fundamentally important to museums and other collecting institutions. When we look back at the history of registration and collections care and consider how much the profession has evolved and adapted over the last six decades, the future of museum registration and collections care looks bright indeed. •
1. D. Brown, Origin (New York: Doubleday, 2017), 278.
2. K. F. Latham, “The invisibility of collections care work.” Collections 3, no. 1 (2007): 103–112.
3. Available at: http://www.conservation-wiki.com/wiki/Main_Page.
4. Available at: https://www.canada.ca/en/conservation-institute.html.
5. Available at: https://www.connectingtocollections.org/.
6. Available at: https://www.nps.gov/museum/.