Collection Stewardship:

“The careful, sound, and responsible management of that which is entrusted to a museum’s care. Possession of collections incurs legal, social, and ethical obligations to provide proper physical storage, management, and care for the collections and associated documentation, as well as proper intellectual control. Collections are held in trust of the public and made accessible for the public’s benefit. Effective collections stewardship ensures that the objects the museum owns, borrows, holds in its custody, and/or uses are available and accessible to present and future generations. A museum’s collections are an important means of advancing its mission and serving the public.” –American Association of Museums

1998-The Museum initiates a proactive and preventative course of action to ensure the well being of its permanent collection

-implementation of a long-range preservation plan

-rehousing all of the Museum collections (6012) objects identified as critical to further ensure the long-term preservation. Individual collections were prioritized according to those that would be most affected by improved storage condition, those that would reduce the rate of deterioration and those that would reduce the amount of handling and time needed to locate objects needed for exhibit or education.

-Museum renovation and expansion project undertaken

1999-2000 The Museum moves back into the recently expanded and renovated South Dakota Art Museum facility

2000-Larson Foundation provides funding to purchase storage equipment to rehouse nearly 5000 three-dimensional objects in its holdings including Native American artifacts, ceramics, textiles and unframed works on paper.

2001-Heritage Preservation and the Institute for Museum and Library Services provide funding for Conservation Assessment Program (CAP). The Museum identifies and prioritizes its collection stewardship needs.

2001-Institute for Museum and Library Services and private donors Barb & Van Fishback provide financial resources to rehouse 264 two-dimensional works of art on a state-of-the-art sliding rack system.

2002- American Association of Museums and the Institute for Museum and Library Services provide a Museum Assessment Program-Collection Management Assessment to the Museum to evaluate its policies and procedures related to Collection Stewardship.

2002-National Endowment for the Humanities Preservation Assistance Grant (PAG) provides funding to rehouse the Paul Goble collection of 780 works of art. This includes the purchase of supplies such as folders and map drawers.

2004-Museum initiates major Conservation Treatment fund raising efforts to preserve the artwork by South Dakota native Harvey Dunn. With generous support from many private donors * and South Dakota State University over $118,000 is committed to treatment of nearly 90 paintings by Harvey Dunn.

2004-National Endowment for the Humanities Preservation Assistance Grant (PAG) provides funding to properly matt, frame and rehouse 24 works of art by Native American artists Oscar Howe. The project is designated by the National Endowment for the Humanities as a “WE THE PEOPLE PROJECT” for promoting knowledge and understanding of American History and Culture.

2005-Midwest Art Conservation Center and National Endowment for the Humanities awards the Museum a Mentorship Grant. The Mentorship helped to develop a major stewardship project to initiate two volunteer groups to assist in collection related activities, to design and construct individual storage mounts for nearly 900 Native American objects, to research the objects, to identify cultural concerns related to the collections.

2006-National Endowment for the Humanities Preservation Assistance Grant (PAG) provides funding to properly rehouse 900 objects in the Native American Collections. The project is designated by the National Endowment for the Humanities as a “WE THE PEOPLE PROJECT” for promoting knowledge and understanding of American History and Culture.

2006-ongoing     Volunteers work alongside the Curator of Collections in designing and constructing individual storage mounts for collection objects. Volunteers also assist Curator of Collections in researching individual objects and collections. Financial Support is provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities and Barb and Van Fishback.

2008-     Institute for Museum and Library Services awards the Museum the Connecting to Collections Bookshelf. A comprehensive collection of reference materials related to collection stewardship, conservation and management.

2009-     The Museum is invited to participate in the Institute for Museum and Library Services Connecting to Collections: A Call to Action Symposium

2009-     Heritage Preservation and Institute for Museum and Library Services award the Museum a Re-CAP Assessment  to identify and prioritize collection needs, develop a revised long-range preservation plan and disaster response plan.

+++

Future Plans:

Identify funding sources for collection priorities identified in 2009 Re-CAP report.

Development of archival policies and plan for proper housing, organizing and use of Museum archives

Conduct detailed object-by-object survey of Works on Paper to identify specific needs, cost estimate and plan of action

Revise long-range preservation plan taking into account progress made during the past 11 years

Develop and implement a disaster response plan