Even with the judge's final ruling on the Berkshire Museum’s deaccessioning case released last week, discussions of ethics, compromise, and stewardship are still swirling. Martin Gammon, President of Pergamon Art Group, will take trustees on a deep dive into the topic at MTA’s Friday Forum later this month.
 
Much of the deaccessioning debate has been fueled by precedents – cases of deaccessioning that were successes or failures - and the history of smart moves or missteps on the part of trustees.
 
Gammon’s new book, Deaccessioning and Its Discontents, is a critical history of collections deaccessioning by museums. Read on for a few excerpts from Gammon’s book that share a few of the precedents for the Berkshire Museum case.
 
The now defunct Finch College’s decision to auction their collection in order to cover operating costs and financial obligations: read more.
 
The George F. Harding Museum’s art sales and the attorney general’s response: read more.
 
The Heye Foundation’s struggles with self-dealing, trustee discounts, and the attorney general: read more. Some of the items in question were eventually returned to the Foundation and later joined the Smithsonian’s collection at the Museum of the American Indian.
 
Brandeis University’s Rose Art Museum and the shifting curatorial rationale for instances of deaccessioning: read more.

MTA’s Friday Forum will take place at the Mingei International Museum on Friday, April 27th. Spots are still available – register today.

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Our August blog post on deaccessioning from collections engendered strong opinions on all sides of the issue. Thank you to those of you who weighed in via phone call, blog comment, LinkedIn, Facebook, or email for being a part of the discussion. It was especially reassuring that several of our readers expressed an interest in participating in a Fiscal SWAT Team with MTA. These conversations were especially fruitful, and we look forward to implementing this program in the future.

Regardless of your stance on the volatile issue of deaccessioning, it can be agreed that good governance requires both the careful collections stewardship and the execution of fiduciary responsibility. An effective board sees and responds to the first signs of financial trouble within their institution and promptly deals with those problems long before the controversial issue of deaccessioning arises. Are you beginning to see red ink on your balance sheet? Is your audience declining? Does your museum routinely defer maintenance for “just one more year”? Is your staff anxiously waiting for a single big check to keep the lights on? If you answered yes to any of these questions, the time to act is now. Don’t wait until it is too late to seek help. MTA’s Board and Staff are available to assist and to connect you to the resources that your museum needs.

As an organization with an educational mission, we rely on our semi-annual Forums to be our most significant arena for discussion. Deaccessioning and Fiscal Responsibility will be a topic at one or more of our 2018 Forums. Mark your calendar- next year’s event schedule is available now!

Can’t make it to San Diego or Hartford? Our Tips for Trustees blog has become a valuable resource to the field. In November, we will be working with our partners to develop a series of Tips that take a closer look at the early warning signs preceding fiscal crisis, and create ways to address them effectively. We look forward to your continued enthusiastic discussion.

NOTE (October 12, 2017):
The Museum Trustee Association views its mission of enhancing the effectiveness of museum trustees as educational and collaborative. As a group of past and current museum board members, we do not see ourselves as a policy-setting organization but rather as a source of information to equip Museum Trustees as they implement field-wide best practices in all of their governance affairs. While the article above is intended to provide an opportunity for open dialogue, MTA firmly believes that in all matters of deaccessioning, the guidelines of the American Alliance of Museums set the industry-wide standard. For more information on field-wide best practices, we invite you to read “Questions and Answers about Selling Objects from the Collection”, published by AAM on September 23, 2017, and AAM’s 2016 White Paper entitled “Direct Care of Collections”.