GUIDELINES FOR THE CURATION OF GEOLOGICAL MATERIALS

or otherwise borrowed. Those which are of interest here are the specimens which
the museum decides it wants to keep and incorporate into its permanent
collections. This process has been called "Acquisition" and Acquisition Documentation
constitutes the second phase in the recording of specimens and
collections, occuring subsequent to Entry Documentation. The term Acquisition
directly relates to Acquisition Policies which have been dealt with in detail in Part A.
We assume that prior to the making of a decision to acquire a specimen,
consideration be given to its evaluation in terms of an Acquisition Policy. The
term "Accession" has also been used to mean the same thing, i.e. the formalized
processing of material into the museum's permanent collections. The procedures
for this formalised process vary considerably and may involve Accession
Registers, Acquisition Registers, etc. We do not propose here to discuss these
detailed procedures because they apply generally across all museum disciplines
and have no specifically geological implications. Readers are advised to consult
various MDA publications including MDA (1981) pp. 18-24 and Roberts (1985 in
press). We will consider briefly, however, perhaps the most important feature of
the acquisition process and that is the question of specimen ownership.
Title in the specimen
The Museums Association Code of Practice for Museum Authorities (Boylan
1977) states in its paragraph 4.5:
"A museum should not acquire, whether by purchase. gift, bequest or
exchange, any work of art or object unless the governing body or
responsible officer as appropriate is satisfied that the museum can acquire a
valid title to the specimen in question. . ."
The methods by which a museum curator satisfies himself that he caj1 acquire a
valid title are multifarious. The actual transfer of title in most instances has not
been a formalised process and has only been evidenced incidentally, for instance
by correspondence such as a letter of acknowledgement, or by a financial order
from a museum to a seller. In cases where such evidence is lacking, dispute over
the ownership of an item may lead to any claim to title by the museum being
rejected.
The Museum Documentation Association, recognising this problem, advocates
the use of a standard transfer of title form which should be sent to the depositor
of a specimen or collection. This form is a self-duplicating triplet. The top copy is
incorporated in a transfer of title file for security purposes, the second copy is
signed by the depositor, returned to the museum and added to the specimen or
collection History File and the third copy is retained by the depositor. MDA
(1981) gives more detail.
SPECIMEN CATALOGUING
INTRODUCTION
Any overall view of the processes of curation inevitably runs into problems of
terminology. The strategy of this Part of the Guidelines has generally been to