GUIDELINES FOR THE CURATION OF GEOLOGICAL MATERIALS

ACQUISITION
PREAMBLE
In this Part we discuss the methods and systems by which material is gained for
the collections; the means of documenting that material is covered in Part B.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES
In these Guidelines acquisition is defined as:
the process by which material is added to collections within a curator's care.
Acquired material will become catalogued and hence a 'permanent' part of a
museum's collections. What follows, however, in terms of the care a curator must
provide for specimens, extends also to material for which he may only have
temporary responsibility, such as loans to the museum. In the next Part, in which
the processes of documentation are discussed, the term 'Entry' is used for.
anything coming into the museum on either a permanent or temporary basis; the
term 'Acquisition' is restricted in Part E to the more legal aspects of accepting
material permanently into the museum. Here, we are concerned with how
material for use in the museum and added to its collections is acquired.
The process of acquisition is at the 'sharp end' of curation in as much as all
other curatorial activities will, to some extent, flow from this activity. This can be
summed up as:
'What you acquire dictates what you do.'
It is important for the curator to recognise the implications of such an axiom,
since it can put the curatorial cart before the horse. The often randomly acquired
collections of the past, which are a fact of every curator's life, will inevitably
continue to influence curatorial activity. If, however, the curator gives considered
direction to his present acquisitive behaviour, his (and his successors') subsequent
curatorial activities will also have direction. To take control of the reins, today's
curator, displaying professionalism, has created an alternative axiom:
'What you want to do must dictate what you acquire.'
It is this notion which underlies the generally accepted view that every
professionally-run museum should have a published statement of its aims and
activities, of which an acquisition policy is an integral part. The first guideline of
the Museums Association's 'Code of Conduct for Museum Curators' (Duggan et
al. 1984) states that:
"An appropriate and detailed acquisition policy is recognised as essential to
the orderly management of a museum. It implies the acceptance of
responsibility for the curation and physical accommodation of collections as
defined in the policy for as long as they are held."
The acquisition of an object - however acquired - represents a commitment of
resources which has to be justifiable. It is no longer professionally defensible for a
curator to accept, say, a donation, if neither the object nor its associations are
remotely relevant to the activities of his institution.
The acquisition policy should state the broad subject areas in which the
museum will acquire material. It should also discourage the acquisition of
material where the act of acquisition may conflict with the interests of