Puzzle Pieces

Several months ago, Fifi, the Museum's Gift Shop Manager, brought two prints down to my office. She said, "These were given to the Museum when Kathy and Cheryl [former Education Director] attended a conference in 2005."


Print #1: Derricks, After the Rain


Print #2: Evening Brea Canyon

"Gee, thanks. That helps a lot," I thought sarcastically. I set them aside to deal with later.

Fast forward several months and I reach a stopping point in my cataloguing project last week. So I turn my focus on the above-mentioned prints. Taking a close look at the prints, I realize they are signed by the artist JoAnn Cowans.

So I google her ... Sure enough, she has a website. And after a few clicks, I find the two prints on there. "Okay," I think. "This is the right artist." Then I click on her email address and write the following missive:

My name is Leslie Meyer and I am currently the Director of Archives & Collections at The Petroleum Museum. We have come across two prints of your paintings in our collections and have no idea who gave them to us. One is “Derricks, After the Rain” and the other is “Evening Brea Canyon”; both numbered #21 out of 400. They both have Certificates of Authenticity attached as well. I’ve attached photographs of each.

I am hoping you can help me. Do you keep records as to which numbers go to whom? If so, do you know who originally obtained these prints? I’m trying to track down who gave these lovely prints to the Museum.

The next day, JoAnn Cowan herself calls me to discuss this message. During our conversation, she indicates that I should contact Bruce Wells, Executive Director of the American Oil & Gas History Society. You see, JoAnn donated several prints to him to hand out as gifts. Ms. Cowan assures me that she would reach out to him about this.

After I didn't hear anything further, I decide to reach out to Bruce Wells myself. I find his email address online and write the following yesterday:

I am hoping you can help me with a puzzle.

I got your name from Jo Ann Cowans regarding two prints of her artwork that the Museum currently has in its possession. From what I understand, the two prints, “Derricks, After the Rain” and “Evening Brea Canyon”, were given to Kathy Shannon, Executive Director, and a fellow colleague while attending a conference in 2005 or so. Both are numbered #21 out of 400 and signed by the artist; and they both have Certificates of Authenticity attached. (Images of both are attached to this email.)

I contacted Ms. Cowans asking if she maintained records on who received which numbers of the limited prints. When she called me, she mentioned that you had obtained several prints of her artwork to hand out as gifts. Would you happen to be the donor of these two prints to The Petroleum Museum? If so, I would need you to complete a Deed of Gift and other necessary paperwork to finalize the transaction. If not, would you happen to know who might be?

And, sure enough, he calls me today. Mr. Wells confirms that he did indeed give those two prints to Kathy and Cheryl while they were attending an oil education conference in Wichita, Kansas, in 2005. What luck!

I absolutely LOVE these kinds of puzzles ... from a seemingly dead-end, I follow the trail to the end! From two prints given 5 years ago, I now have a donor. The Deed of Gift is already in the mail!

Donor Generosity

Lately, it seems people are coming out of the woodwork to offer items to the Museum. In the past week, I've gotten calls, emails and in-person visits from people all over the country offering objects ranging from scrapbooks to posters to drilling rigs.

Museums, like The Petroleum Museum, strive on the generosity and thoughtfulness of people like that. While cataloguing the permanent and archival collections, I've quickly realized that The Petroleum Museum would not be the kind of institution it is without the generosity of donors from all over the country. These donors were often repeat-offenders, offering items of all types frequently over several years.

However, not everything can, or even should, be accepted into a museum's collection. If it did, then the collection would be quite large and undefined. A museum is defined by its relationship with its collections, starting with the accumulation and acquisition of things. However, acquisition of objects for the collections should be done carefully and thoughtfully. According to Marie C. Malaro, in her book A Legal Primer on Managing Museum Collections:

Without clear direction, poor decisions are bound to be made, and for a museum, many such "mistakes" have no easy solutions. The best approach is prevention, and today an almost essential preventive measure is the adoption and implementation of a collection management policy.

A Collection Management Policy offers guidelines regarding various aspects from acquisition and accession to security and storage to deaccession. (I've posted about security and deaccesion already.)

Here at The Petroleum Museum, our Collection Management Policy outlines the criteria on which we can accept (or conversely deny) a donation. Any object considered for acquisition will only be accepted if it meets the following criteria:.

* The object must be relevant to the Museum’s mission, purpose and collection scope.
* The object has historical or scientific merit and/or has historical or cultural significance.
* No object shall be acquired for the collections if the Museum cannot give it proper storage, protection and preservation.
* The Museum will not knowingly accept any object acquired by either illegal or unethical means.
* Unless there is a compelling reason to do otherwise, the Museum will only accept unrestricted gifts for acquisition wherein free and clear title shall be obtained without restriction as to use or future disposition.
* The Museum should seek to secure copyright license on all acquisitions.
* The Museum will not acquire redundant copies or duplicate objects or collections unless it is deemed necessary by the Board of Trustees.

We at The Petroleum Museum try to be careful and thoughtful in what we do accept into the Museum's collections. The main questions we ask ourselves are: (1) Does this support our mission to share the petroleum and energy story of the Permian Basin? Is the object relevant to the Permian Basin? (2) Does this duplicate other objects in our collection? (3) Does the object have historical, technical and/or cultural significance? Does the object support a story we have to tell through our exhibits?

We truly do appreciate all the offered donations. However, several factors, including those listed above, play into our decision-making process.

If you would like to learn more, feel free to leave a comment. Or check out the above books. Marie Malaro's A Legal Primer is a must have for any museum or museum professional. She touches on every legal aspect related to a museum's collection. John E. Simmons' Things Great and Small is a textbook on Collection Management Policies and a must-have for anyone who needs to draft one. Click on the image to go to Amazon listing of each book.