Accessioning and Deaccessioning

Morris Skinner stands beside a table upon which a large fossil specimen in an opened jacket is laid out.

Morris Skinner examining one of the Frick Collection specimens, Frick Laboratory.

Accessioning

The process by which an institution obtains legal title and establishes ownership of a specimen or collection of specimens is called accessioning.

Once a specimen has been accessioned by an institution, the institution becomes accountable for that fossil or collection. This has both legal and practical implications for the institution.

Accessioning is the formal process used to accept legal responsibility as a repository for, and to record a specimen as part of, a collection. It involves the creation of an immediate, brief, and permanent record for the specimen or the collection; this can be an entry in a ledger book; an index card; or a database record.

This record will have a number or some other identifying code (an accession number) that links together all the objects added to the collection from the same source at the same time, and contains information about the provenance of the specimen or collection.

This accession number is used to link the objects with this provenance information, so that it will always be possible to track down the background information and prove, for example, that a specimen was legally acquired. By creating an accession record and assigning an accession number to a specimen or collection, the institution accepts custody, right, or title to it. In some institutions this work may be done departmentally, in others it may be done by centrally by a specialist staff member, usually called the Registrar.

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology states “Fossils and their contextual data must be accessioned and curated in an institution, the mission of which is scientific study and education in perpetuity. Fossils should be accessioned in a timely manner.”

Accessioning Versus Cataloguing

Occasionally, there is confusion about the difference between accessioning and cataloging. One reason for this is that in some institutions, the method of accessioning is by cataloging—in other words, applying an institutional catalog number to the specimen and creating a catalog record is seen as asserting the institution’s right of ownership. In other institutions this single event recording is not the case, and the two terms are not used interchangeably.

Because of the legal implications associated with the process of accessioning specimens, the institution or collector must be certain (i.e., due diligence must be exercised) that:

The specimens were legally acquired.
The donor has a right to pass them on to the museum.
The process of transferring the specimens to the museum does not breach any laws.
That the relevant documentation exists to demonstrate all of the above in the event of a future legal challenge.

Deaccessioning

Within a collection there may be many examples of fossils of the same species. These are not “extras” or “spares”; series of specimens are essential for research and are one of the most important reasons that institutions hold collections.

It is rare that a museum will want to dispose of a specimen simply because it is one of several examples of that species. However, there are some circumstances in which an institution may feel that it is no longer appropriate or necessary to hold onto a particular fossil, and may choose to remove the specimen from its collections. This process is called deaccessioning.

Deaccessioning is carried out when a specimen has been damaged beyond recovery or repair, or is no longer relevant to the scope and purpose of the collections. There are a number of different methods by which deaccessioning can be carried out, including exchange, donation, sale, or destruction.

Why might my institution decide to deaccession something?

Examples of reasons for deaccessioning of specimens include:

The specimen is so badly damaged that it can no longer be used
The material does not relate to the institution’s current mission
The available data are insufficient to properly document the specimen
The specimen is a health hazard
The specimen has little scientific or educational value
The specimen will be destroyed or completely consumed during important scientific sampling (“destructive analysis”)
Ownership of the specimen has been determined to be inappropriate for the institution
The specimen is being returned to the country or place of origin
The institution is unable to provide sufficient care, and another repository has been identified that is more suitable and is willing to accept it.

Deaccessioning a specimen is an extremely significant step for an institution or individual, because by accessioning the specimen you accepted responsibility for its long term housing and care. For this reason, it is important that the decision to remove or dispose of an object from a collection is considered carefully, and that the process of deaccessioning takes place in a responsible and ethical manner.

What do I do with the specimen after it has been deaccessioned?

For an institution with legal responsibility for a specimen, the process of deaccessioning is generally done in one of two ways:

By Sale

In general, ethical issues tend to weigh against the sale of objects from museum collections; however, selling of specimens may be an acceptable method of disposal under certain circumstances. Nonetheless, the sale of specimens can be a very contentious issue and should not be undertaken without consultation with all appropriate institutional staff.

If the object is offered for sale, it is preferable that the sale take place via a public auction or the public market place in a way that best protects the interests of the museum. The proceeds from the sale should be used for acquisitions to the collections or for direct management, care or preservation of the collections as specified by the institution’s collection policy.

By Discarding or Destruction

If a specimen has lost all of its value to the collections because of alteration, replication, deterioration or other compelling reason(s) and has no value for education, exchange, sale, or donation, it can be discarded or destroyed.

Preferred Methods of Deaccessioning

Preference should be given to placing material that is part of the historical, cultural, or scientific legacy of a particular region, state or country at institutions within that region, state or nation, respectively. Alternatively, the specimen can be transferred internally within the holding institution (e.g., from a scientific collection to an education department for use in public programs).

These Collection Management resources were originally developed in 2007 with the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF).