So what happens after a donor has offered an object to the Museum and it has been accepted? As with many things in the museum-world, there is a process from offer to acceptance to accession. According to The New Museum Registration Methods, accessioning is the act of recording or processing an addition to the permanent collection.
Offers come in all forms: over the phone, in person, via email or regular mail, etc. As I mentioned in my Donor Generosity post, each offer is considered and weighed in light of the Museum's collection needs as well as the Museum's mission, among other criteria.
Once an offer is accepted, first thing I do is write a Gift Acknowledgement letter and Deed of Gift and send it off to the donor. Depending on the object, I may also include an Object History Form to obtain more information for our records. The key is to collect as much information as possible about the donor and the gift. It's this information that gives the object its value!
Above: Deed of Gift for the Statue of Liberty. Document with watercolor, July 4, 1884. Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. (44) Needless to say, The Petroleum Museum's Deed of Gifts are not watercolored.
Once the Deed of Gift is back in hand, I can fully process and catalogue the object. I use several forms to do so: Accession Checklist, Catalog Sheet, and Condition Report. I also take photos of the object for the file and the database.
Above: Condition Report for cars. A museum's Condition Report is similar.
I can then house the object appropriately. For instance, if the object is a framed painting, I will hang it in the Vault, our framed art storage area. If the gift consists of photographs, I will house them in plastic sleeves and in our photographic cabinets. Sometimes, objects will go directly on display. However, most objects will stay in storage until they are needed for programs or exhibits.
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