Having been a professional museum and art gallery curator and director
for over 25 years, I thought for interest it may be interesting for
people to know about the situation regarding UK museums.

In the UK we have a government scheme run through what was the Museum
and Galleries Commission, a part of the government of the UK.  A scheme
called Registration was first set up.  This meant that museums to be
funded by the Government and local government had to be registered.
Other [non-registered] museums would not be eligible for any government
support for running costs and also (more importantly) grant aid unless
they had come up to certain standards.

Part of this Registration was a legal document which includes various
parts of the Museums Association (GB) Code of Conduct.  This has all
the normal things about human remains and animal remains, e.g., ivory
and the CITES convention.  But more importantly, it clearly states
[that] the Governing Bodies have to sign up to the document, which also
states how and when a museum can dispose of its collection or items
from its collection.

In fact, it states that they can't sell them.  Any item has to be
advertised in the museum's journal and offered for transfer, for no
cost, to another museum.  Only if that cannot be found, or no museum
wants the item, can it be sold by auction for the benefits of the
collections.  Any funds cannot be used to pay staff, upkeep of building
or anything else apart from the collections, i.e., purchasing other
items or conservation.

In some cases, depending of the conditions of the acquisition, it could
be returned to the family of the donor.  The clause states that there
is a strong presumption against any disposal.

If the museum is not Registered or Accredited it will not be able to
get funding from many organizations, from charitable bodies to National
Lottery and other major funds.  Also, if they don't get Accredited and
are a local government museum or partially funded, the UK's National
Audit Office can intervene.

Now this might seem to be a "Big Brother", but it works well and has
stopped many items being sold for silly reasons.  Two or three paintings
by the famous artist L. S. Lowry were owned by a museum in the north of
England.  The council went in and removed them, to cut a long story short,
and were about to sell them [for funds] to upgrade toilet facilities
for some schools and a few other things.  The museum was part of the
council's Education and Schools department.

[The paintings] got to the auction house and there was uproar locally and
nationally.  Eventually, due to Government intervention and the Museum
Association plus the fact that they had signed the document mentioned
above, they were withdrawn from sale and returned to the walls of the
gallery.  It was a true test case.

99 percent of UK museums and many others in Europe and other parts of
the world have a set of legal forms.  These are Entry forms, Exit forms
and most important, Transfer of Title forms.  All are standard legal
documents produced by the Museum Documentation Association in the UK
(see their web site).

These documents are legal documents.  When an item comes in an Entry
Form is filled in which states the owner's name and why the item has
come in -- for loan, gift, transfer, etc.  If it is a gift then a
Transfer of Title form is filled out and signed by the donor or their
legal representative.  For example, the person has deceased and then
the form is signed by the director or another authorized signatory of
the organisation.

Once the Transfer of Title is signed by both, the item moves to become
the property of the museum and is classified as community property and
a Strong Presumption is written in that it can never be sold!

I know of a number of collectors who have tried to persuade that a
mechanical musical item will be better with them and they have not got
anywhere with this system.  In the UK, legally all items are kept for
the community in perpetuity.

This museum system works well and means that all types of material are
cared for and looked after.

Registration is a great scheme as it helps museums to have good systems
for documentation, care of collections, disaster planning and -- much
more important -- disposals, or should I say _not_ to dispose.  The
other important thing is the Acquisition Policy which clearly states
what the museum does collect and also what it does not.

In my experience too many museums accept collections or single items
which are not relevant and have just accepted it as it was a local
collector and sometimes they don't want to upset people!  Such a policy
also allows standardisation and transfer of items (for free) to more
suitable museums and galleries.

If items are to be around for future generations in the original format,
collectors are not always the best place for such items.  I have seen
too many mechanical musical instruments over-restored and looking
better than when they were sold.  Too much rebuilding [can happen] as
at least one organ builder in Europe has converted very rare organs to
so-called better and larger scales, e.g., a lovely original 97-key Gaudin
was converted to a 115-key organ, 87-key Gavioli's to 89-key, etc.

In the UK we have some terrible so-called restorations, like a rare big
Gavioli barrel organ rebuilt to a 98-key organ playing on the Violin
Baritone scale.  Plus many more mechanical musical instruments should
be _conserved_ and not totally restored and rebuilt so they look new.
Would you do this to historic paintings and antiques?!

I agree also that if a gift is made, make sure you sign a true Transfer
of Title and include your wishes in any will.  I have left clear
instructions in my will about where my fairground organ will go, having
checked they want it first, and I also state my second and third choice
in the event that museum folds, and also that if no suitable collection
can be found or if the museum closes it can not be sold and must be
returned to my descendants.

In many cases it is not the fault of museums or their governing body's
or the donor, the problem being little thought by the donor and the
museum about what the museum will really plan to do with a donation and
how it will be used and cared for.  Too many museums here in the UK
used to accept everything and anything they were offered.  This is now
mainly not the case.

I hope this is of interest.  I have tried to simplify the relevant
documents but examples are available at many UK museums and such policy
documents are available on-line as they are public documents.

Jonathan Holmes
Penzance, Cornwall, UK