The following principles, which are designed to assist the development and operation of the University of Washington museums, including the Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum, the Henry Art Gallery, and the Plestcheeff Institute for the Decorative Arts should govern the solicitation and acceptance of gifts (other than monies) and loans.
| A. | Gifts |
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| 1) | Appropriateness—In the judgment of the appropriate
curator or acquisitions committee, a particular gift is appropriate to the museum's
mission. |
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| 2) | Feasibility—Acceptance of the gift will not, in the
judgment of the museum director, place excessive burdens on the available museum space,
staff, or budget. |
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| 3) | Conditions—Gifts accepted by a museum should be
accepted without special conditions regarding their ownership, use, display labeling,
attribution, future disposition, etc. In general, fractional gifts will be avoided except
when the attendant legal questions can be resolved to the satisfaction of the donor, the
museum, and the University. |
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| 4) | Policies and Practices—Each donor will be advised
by the appropriate administrators of the pertinent points of the University policies and
practices regarding acceptance of loans and gifts. |
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| 5) | Approval—Gifts to University museums can only be
accepted by the Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations upon the
recommendation of the museum director, acting upon the advice of the appropriate curator
or committee. |
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| 6) | Acknowledgment—Following acceptance by the Vice
President for Development and Alumni Relations, all gifts to a museum will be acknowledged
by a museum director, curator, or other appropriate persons within the
University. |
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| 7) | Use—The museums should be free to use gifts in
any suitable museum context such as reference, research, exhibition, teaching, school
instruction, sale, exchange, etc. |
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| a) |
The disposition of an object will take place only upon the recommendation
of the appropriate curator and with the approval of the director of the
museum. |
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| b) | Disposition of museum objects will be governed by applicable University regulations and
professional museum standards. Modes of disposition follow in preferred order: (1) transfer
to a UW museum, library, or collection; (2) transfer to a Washington State museum, library,
or collection; (3) sale, exchange, or transfer to a non-profit museum or educational
institution; (4) sale at public auction; (5) destruction and disposal as waste. Funds received
from the sale of objects are to be used for the purchase of other art, artifacts, or specimens
for the collections. |
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| B. | Loans |
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| 1) | All loans to a museum should be initiated by the museum staff with the
approval of its director who will, in determining the suitability of a loan, consider
the implications for space, staff, and budget. |
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| 2) | Extended or permanent loans will be accepted only from governmental,
educational, or eleemosynary institutions which cannot otherwise give the loan material
to the museum. |
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| 3) | Temporary loans of material for exhibition or study may be accepted from individuals or organizations for relatively short periods of fixed duration; an object offered or promised as a gift may also be accepted as a temporary loan for a specified period pending the actual gift transaction. | |||
June 1, 1972; AI, January 27, 1977*; November 1978; January 31, 1994; August 21, 2002.
* By Executive Order, unnumbered, the President, November 7, 1969, established a permanent Campus Art Collection, to embrace all works of art owned by the University but not including the Henry Gallery collection. At the same time an Art Collection Committee was appointed to inventory and catalog present holdings, devise plans for additional acquisitions, and designate locations for display of art works.
For related information, see: