Acquisition and Disposal Policy

Tameside Museums and Galleries Service

Governing Body: Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council: Tameside Museums and Galleries are owned and governed by the local authority, Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council. The Museum Service was established in 1975. Prior to that date there was only one art gallery in the Borough, the Astley Cheetham Art Gallery. All services are operated directly by Tameside MBC. The Council are custodians of the collection held in trust by the Trustees of the Manchester Regiment in relation to the agreement established in 1986.

Tameside Museums and Galleries Service is delivered in five sites:

• Astley Cheetham Art Gallery
• The Museum of the Manchester Regiment
• Portland Basin Museum
• Central Art Gallery
• Setantii Visitor and Family History Centre

The Museums Manager is the Chief Officer of the Service and reports to the Assistant Executive Director for Culture and Customer Services, the Cabinet Deputy for Lifelong Learning, the Project Head for Heritage and Tourism and the Advisory Committee of the Museum of the Manchester Regiment.

Policy approved by Tameside MBC Full Council 17th April 2007

Date at which policy due for review: January 2010

1. Existing collections, including the subjects or themes for collecting
2. Criteria governing future collecting policy, including the subjects or themes for collecting
3. Period of time and/or geographical area to which collecting relates
4. Limitations on collecting
5. Collecting policies of other museums
6. Policy review procedure
7. Acquisitions not covered by the policy
8. Acquisition procedures
9. Spoliation
10. Repatriation and Restitution
11. Management of archives
12. Disposal procedures

1. Existing collections, including the subjects or themes for collecting

The collections of Tameside Museums and Galleries Service fall into three distinct categories:

• Social, Industrial and General Collections
• Manchester Regiment Collection
• Astley Cheetham Collection

1. Social, Industrial and General Collections:
   
   This collection is by far the largest collection comprising around 16,000 objects. These are mainly items relating to the domestic and industrial history of Tameside over the past 200 years. This includes costume, ceramics, glassware, furniture, sporting items and large pieces of machinery from local industries. The collection also includes the Radcliffe collection of Ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman objects, several Geological collections, archaeological finds from local excavations and the Town Hall Civic Silver collection.
    
2. The Museum of the Manchester Regiment Collection:
   
   The museum, situated in Ashton Town Hall , is run by the museum service on behalf of the trustees of the Manchester Regiment. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, Colonel-in-Chief of the Manchester Regiment and the King's Regiment, opened the original museum in 1987. Part of the museum was redeveloped in 2002 and reopened by His Royal Highness Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales.
   
   The collection has over 4000 objects including over 200 items of uniform and over 600 medal groups. The collections also include works on paper such as documents and photographs which are deposited with Tameside Local Studies and Archives Centre for public consultation. Additionally, the collection incorporates silverware, paintings, firearms, edged weapons, musical instruments and other items of military equipment such as personal carrying equipment and campaign furniture.
    
3. Astley Cheetham Collection:
   
   Astley Cheetham Art Gallery opened in 1932, following a donation of money for the building of a library and art gallery in 1910 by the Cheetham family of Stalybridge and the subsequent receipt of the Cheetham family bequest of paintings. The original collection has since been added to and now comprises over 500 paintings and illustrations. It is widely acknowledged as being one of the finest collections in the Northwest.

2. Criteria governing future collecting policy, including the subjects or themes for collecting

The policy aims to contribute to the delivery of the mission and vision and make the collections more relevant to, and reflective of contemporary society.

Tameside Museums and Galleries service will collect, preserve and interpret the cultural heritage and visual arts of Tameside for the learning and enjoyment of the whole community.

With this in mind three key collecting themes have been prioritised.

1. Celebrating Tameside and its people by:
    
   • Collecting material representing Tameside's history, achievements and encouraging pride in the borough.
      
   • Acquiring works of art from local contemporary artists to recognise creativity in the borough
      
2. Celebrating cultural diversity and increasing cultural representation by:
    
   • Acquiring material that is representative of, relevant and/or of interest to the diverse communities living within the borough, including material from Black and minority ethnic groups, to ensure that their contribution to the cultural heritage within the borough is recorded.
      
3. Develop the depth, breadth and significance of the collections by:
    
   • Acquiring important examples of fine art which relate to the current fine art collections
      
   • Acquiring items, which relate to the history of the Manchester Regiment in areas that are currently under-represented:
      
     Pre 1881 and post 1945 items:
      
     • Material relating to Service Battalions and Territorial Battalions during the course of their history
     • Material relating to Home Guard Units affiliated to the Manchester Regiment during WWII
     • Material relating to Cadet Detachments affiliated to the Manchester Regiment
     • Material that portrays the experiences of women and children associated with the Manchester Regiment
     • Material that portrays the experiences of Tameside personnel associated with the King's Regiment and the new Regiment to date known as the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's, Lancashire and Border
        
   • Develop the handling collections by:
      
     • Collecting material that contributes to the work of the Service in relation to programmes for formal education 5-19, life long learning and Inspiring Learning for All.
        
4. Criteria for collecting: Any acquisitions in the above three categories must meet as many as possible of the following six general criteria:
    
   • Enhance or add another dimension to a particular area in which the collections are already strong;
   • Have related contextual material, e.g. artist's statement, original invoices, photographs of and object being used or worn;
   • Contribute to the development of themes and narratives in the Museums and Galleries displays.
   • Be a starting point for education work or likely to inspire creative activity;
   • Be linked to artefacts from other areas of the collection to create new interpretations
   • Enable a link to be made between historic and contemporary practice.

3. Period of time and/or geographical area to which collecting relates

1. Period of time: The time periods of the material that Tameside Museums and Galleries Service aims to collect will relate to the period covered by the existing collections and with an emphasis on contemporary collecting.
    
2. Geographical area: the geographical area of Tameside or the geographical origin of existing collections.

4. Limitations on collecting

Tameside Museums and Galleries Service recognises its responsibility, in acquiring additions to its collections, to ensure that care of collections, documentation arrangements and use of collections will meet the requirements of the Accreditation Standard. It will take into account limitations on collecting imposed by such factors as inadequate staffing, duplication, storage and care of collection arrangements.

5. Collecting policies of other museums

Tameside Museums and Galleries Service will take account of the collecting policies of other museums, galleries and other organisations collecting in the same or related areas or subject fields. It will consult with these organisations where conflicts of interest may arise or to define areas of specialisms, in order to avoid unnecessary duplication and waste of resources.

Tameside Museums and Galleries Service will take account of the collecting policies of:

• Members of the Greater Manchester Museum Group
• Bolton Museum and Art Gallery
• Stockport Heritage Services
• Salford Museum and Art Gallery
• Oldham Art Gallery
• Touchstones, Rochdale
• North West Regional Hub: Manchester City Galleries; Museum of Science and Industry; People's History Museum , University of Manchester (The Whitworth Art Gallery and Manchester Museum)

Tameside Museums and Galleries Service will also take into account the collecting policies of all known Regimental and Corps Museums and other military collections including those based in the North West such as the Museum of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment and The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers (Lancashire Fusiliers).

Museum staff will not accept material for transfer to other collections. Where material is deemed more relevant to another collection the donor will be informed of the most appropriate museum or other repository by curatorial staff

6. Policy review procedure

The Acquisition and Disposal Policy will be published and reviewed from time to time, at least once every three years, therefore the policy is due for review in 2010.

MLA North West, as the Regional Agency will be notified of any changes to the Acquisition and Disposal Policy, and the implications of any such changes for the future of existing collections.

7. Acquisitions not covered by the policy

Acquisitions outside the current stated policy will only be made in very exceptional circumstances, and then only after proper consideration by the governing body of Tameside Museums and Galleries Service, having regard to the interests of other museums.

8. Acquisition procedures

1. Tameside Museums and Galleries Service will exercise due diligence and make every effort not to acquire, whether by purchase, gift, bequest or exchange, any object or specimen unless the governing body or responsible officer is satisfied that the museum can acquire a valid title to the item in question.
    
2. In particular, the museum will not acquire any object or specimen unless it is satisfied that the object or specimen has not been acquired in, or exported from, its country of origin (or any intermediate country in which it may have been legally owned) in violation of that country's laws. (For the purposes of this paragraph `country of origin' includes the United Kingdom).
    
3. In accordance with the provisions of the UNESCO 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, which the UK ratified with effect from November 1 2002, and the Dealing in Cultural Objects (Offences) Act 2003,Tameside Museums and Galleries Service will reject any items that have been illicitly traded. The governing body will be guided by the national guidance on the responsible acquisition of cultural property issued by Department for Culture, Media and Sport in 2005.
    
4. So far as biological and geological material is concerned, Tameside Museums and Galleries Service will not acquire by any direct or indirect means any specimen that has been collected, sold or otherwise transferred in contravention of any national or international wildlife protection or natural history conservation law or treaty of the United Kingdom or any other country, except with the express consent of an appropriate outside authority.
    
5. The museum will not acquire archaeological antiquities (including excavated ceramics) in any case where the governing body or responsible officer has any suspicion that the circumstances of their recovery involved a failure to follow the appropriate legal procedures, such as reporting finds to the landowner or occupier of the land and to the proper authorities in the case of possible treasure as defined by the Treasure Act 1996 (in England, Northern Ireland and Wales) or reporting finds through the Treasure Trove procedure (in Scotland).
    
6. Any exceptions to the above clauses 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, or 8.5 will only be because the museum is either:
    
   • acting as an externally approved repository of last resort for material of local ( UK ) origin; or
   • acquiring an item of minor importance that lacks secure ownership history but in the best judgement of experts in the field concerned has not been illicitly traded; or
   • acting with the permission of authorities with the requisite jurisdiction in the country of origin; or
   • in possession of reliable documentary evidence that the item was exported from its country of origin before 1970.
   • In these cases the museum will be open and transparent in the way it makes decisions and will act only with the express consent of an appropriate outside authority.

9. Spoliation

Tameside Museums and Galleries Service will use the statement of principles 'Spoliation of Works of Art during the Nazi, Holocaust and World War II period', issued for non-national museums in 1999 by the Museums and Galleries Commission.

10. Repatriation and Restitution

Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council as the Museums and Galleries Service's governing body, acting on the advice of the museum's professional staff, if any, may take a decision to return human remains, objects or specimens to a country or people of origin. The museum will take such decisions on a case by case basis, within its legal position and taking into account all ethical implications.

11. Management of archives

Tameside Museums and Galleries Service does not hold in its collection photographs or archival material, but deposits all such material to Tameside Local Studies Library.

12. Disposal procedures

1. By definition, Tameside Museums and Galleries Service has a long-term purpose and should possess (or intend to acquire) permanent collections in relation to its stated objectives. Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council accepts the principle that, except for sound curatorial reasons, there is a strong presumption against the disposal of any items in the museum's collection.
    
2. Tameside Museums and Galleries Service will establish that it is legally free to dispose of an item. Any decision to dispose of material from the collections will be taken only after due consideration.
    
3. When disposal of a museum or gallery object is being considered, the museums and galleries service will establish if it was acquired with the aid of an external funding organisation. In such cases, any conditions attached to the original grant will be followed. This may include repayment of the original grant.
    
4. Decisions to dispose of items will not be made with the principal aim of generating funds.
    
5. Any monies received by Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council from the disposal of items will be applied for the benefit of the collections. This normally means the purchase of further acquisitions but in exceptional cases improvements relating to the care of collections may be justifiable. Advice on these cases will be sought from Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.
    
6. A decision to dispose of a specimen or object, whether by gift, exchange, sale or destruction (in the case of an item too badly damaged or deteriorated to be of any use for the purposes of the collections), will be the responsibility of the governing body of the Tameside Museums and Galleries Service acting on the advice of professional curatorial staff, if any, and not of the curator of the collection acting alone.
    
7. Once a decision to dispose of material in the collection has been taken, priority will be given to retaining it within the public domain, unless it is to be destroyed. It will therefore be offered in the first instance, by gift, exchange or sale, directly to other Accredited Museums likely to be interested in its acquisition.
    
8. If the material is not acquired by any Accredited Museums to which it was offered directly, then the museum community at large will be advised of the intention to dispose of the material, normally through an announcement in the Museums Association's Museums Journal, and in other professional journals where appropriate.
    
9. The announcement will indicate the number and nature of specimens or objects involved, and the basis on which the material will be transferred to another institution. Preference will be given to expressions of interest from other Accredited Museums. A period of at least two months will be allowed for an interest in acquiring the material to be expressed. At the end of this period, if no expressions of interest have been received, the museum may consider disposing of the material to other interested individuals and organisations.
    
10. Full records will be kept of all decisions on disposals and the items involved and proper arrangements made for the preservation and/or transfer, as appropriate, of the documentation relating to the items concerned, including photographic records where practicable in accordance with SPECTRUM Procedure on deaccession and disposal. SPECTRUM is the Museums Documentation Association documentation standard in the UK.