GUIDELINES FOR THE CURATION OF GEOLOGICAL MATERIALS

of documentation associated with specimens from old collections cannot be
judged by the same criteria as would be used for recently collected material; such
material, and its documentation, must be considered by contemporary rather than
currently accepted standards.
The flow-chart in Figure 1 represents a much simplified scheme of questions
which a curator should ask himself when considering an acquisition. It is broadly
applicable to any method of acquisition. Where the steps of question-and-answer
lead to 'ACQUIRE', this should not be taken as in any sense an absolute - it is
merely an indication that having satisfied himself on that series of points the
curator may then justifiably consider acquisition. By the same token, 'DO NOT
ACQUIRE' may prompt further action such as contacting another institution for
which the 'object' may be more appropriate.
It must be stressed that common sense and a rational flexibility of approach
should prevail when applying these criteria. It is important, for instance, to
acquire material from a locality that is in danger of destruction, or to 'rescue' a
collection that is beine " discarded and would otherwise be lost. Action in such
circumstances may have to be swift. Such material may, at the time, appear
marginal to your museum's acquisition policy, but may in the fullness of time
attain greater relevance. If not, the museum can at least keep the material safely
until the opportunity arises to pass it on to a more suitable institution. similar
considerations apply to the acquisition of 'duplicate' material, that is acquired
with a view to eventual disposal, for example by exchange or allocation to a
teaching load service, etc. Such material falls within your museum's acquisition
policy, but in the view of the geological curator, adds nothing of value to the
existing collections either in quality or information.
Material obtained bv the museum which the curator knows will onlv temporarily
be in his car; (such as loans-in) should be the subject of a holding
procedure only i.e. Entry Documentation (see B2). Due allowance for such
activities could be made in your institution's management policy. See also
Nicholson (1972b).
ACQUISITION METHODS
PREAMBLE
In the past, it has been customary for some curators to distinguish between
'active' (field collection and purchase) and 'passive' collecting (receipt of
donations and bequests). This classification is rejected in these Guidelines, since
as the previous section demonstrates, a rigorously disciplined and actively
selective approach to acquisition should be adopted by the curator for all forms of
acquisition.
Instead, two major categories of acquisition are recognised, which are
particularly relevant to the natural sciences:
PRIMARY ACQUISITION, in which the object passes from the natural or
other field occurrence to an artificial context for the first time,
SECONDARY ACQUISITION, which includes all the ways in which
material passes from the possession of one human agency to another.