Deaccessioning (museum)

Deaccessioning is defined as the process by which a work of art or other object is permanently removed from a museum’s collection. Deaccessioning is a practical and constructive tool of collections care that, if practiced thoughtfully supports the long-term preservation of a collection and can help a museum refine the scope of its collection in order to better serve its mission and community.

The process undertaken by a museum to deaccession a work involves several steps that are usually laid out in a museum`s Collection Management Policy. The terms under which an object may be considered for removal, as well as the individuals with the authority to approve the process are outlined in the "Deaccession" section of this document. Additionally, this section lays out the legal restrictions and ethic considerations associated with removal of the object and the types of disposal that are appropriate based on the reason for the deaccession.

Each museum establishes its own method and workflow for the deaccession process according to its organizational structure. However all object deaccessioning involves the two processing steps of deaccession and disposal.

The process begins with the curator creating a document called a "Statement of Justification," which outlines their decision criteria and reasoning for presenting the work as a possible deaccession. In order to determine if a work should be deaccessioned from a museum`s collection, a curator or registrar completes and documents a series of justification steps and then present their findings to the museum director and governing board for final approval.

There are a number of reasons why deaccessioning might be considered. The following is a typical list of criteria for deaccession and disposal:

The typical steps that need to be taken in order to justify the deaccession and disposal of the work include:

Disposal is defined as the transfer of ownership by the museum after a work has been deaccessioned. Following approval of deaccession from the Governing Board and/or the CEO/Museum Director, the work is disposed of and the title of ownership is completely transferred away from the museum or terminated. The method chosen is determined by the physical condition of the work, the intrinsic value or cultural value of the work and extrinsic value or monetary value of the work. With all methods of disposal, museums are charged to maintain and retain all records of the object, its deaccession and disposal.

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