The Antique Boat Museum auction is one of the many highlights of the northern New York boating season. From barn finds, to in-process projects to boats the musem has made the difficult decision to deaccession, the auction is a great way to find one’s next boat and to support the museum. But, how does a boat become deaccessioned? Here, ABM’s Caitlin Playle shares information about the deaccessioning process.
Caitlin Playle, Antique Boat Museum Curator/Collections Manager
Deaccessioning is a decision and action not taken lightly by any museum. Museums are known as institutions that collect, preserve, interpret, and exhibit objects for the public’s understanding. Years of collecting means that museums have large collections that require ethical and responsible stewardship. Every so often a museum will assess the current collection for objects that no longer fully fit the museum’s mission and scope of the collection or the museum no longer has the capacity to exercise proper stewardship due to changing circumstances. This assessment often occurs at the same time that donation offers are being reviewed for potential acceptance into the collection and, as such, the same criteria is used to make decisions on donation offers and potential deaccessions. Sometimes this results in one object being deaccessioned to accept a better example being offered. Almost always an object being considered for deaccession checks the box for more than one reason for deaccessioning.
The Antique Boat Museum (ABM) is proud to have over 30% of its collection on display between the main campus exhibit spaces and the visible storage of the Don Doebler Collections Storage Facility when the majority of museums have 3-10% of their collections on display. The most visible part(s) of the ABM’s collection are the boats and engines which require a much larger storage footprint than the small artifacts such as paddles and boat hardware. ABM has a finite amount of storage and exhibit space and this is a conscious part of every donation acceptance made. ABM does not deaccession a boat in the collection simply to make space for another boat. Generally there are multiple reasons:
- a better example,
- a more well-documented story to tell,
- and other criteria.
Museums often have a different set of criteria when acquiring new objects for a collection than private collectors. The primary focus is not the 100-point restoration but the story the object tells.
Deaccessioning decisions are not made in a silo by one person. The proposal is brought before the Collections Committee, part of ABM’s governing structure, to vote on and if the vote is to deaccession then there is a process to follow. The donor is notified, the object is offered to other institutions, and only then is it listed for public sale (at the Annual Boat Show Auction). All proceeds from deaccessioned objects go to support the direct care of the collection.
The deaccessioning process and policies as defined by ABM’s Collection Management Policy are standard and ethical ones established by the American Alliance of Museums and that museums use every year.