Basic Condition Reporting

A Handbook, Fourth Edition

Southeastern Registrars Association - Edited by Deborah Rose Van Horn; Heather Culligan and Corinne Midgett

A good condition report is an accurate and informative account of an object’s state of preservation at a particular moment in time. Condition reports can have multiple functions such as recording the state of an object prior to an exhibition or loan, after exhibition or loan, to assist in collections planning, or as a tool for the treatment of an object. Most of these functions can be conducted by a registrar, curator, collections manager, or volunteer.

A good condition report fills many critical needs including:

Knowing the exact condition of an object before or after a loan
Helping staff determine the stability of an object for exhibit or loan
Limiting how often an object is handled
Informing object handlers of unseen problems
Showing the condition of an object over time to determine the rate of deterioration
Setting priorities for conservation
Assisting the staff in identifying similar objects
Aiding in the valuation of an object for insurance purposes

The fourth edition of Basic Condition Reporting: A Handbook proffers a standard vocabulary for all of the individuals in a museum that may be conducting condition reports. In an ideal world, everyone who does a condition report for an item would be trained in the exact same standards, use the same terminology, and use the exact same form, etc. However, the reality is that even if every registrar, collections manager, and curator in your institution does condition reports, each report will be slightly different. Then you throw in every intern, volunteer, or student that may assist and you will find a variety of methods and terminologies that appear. This volume provide a baseline that all of these people can work from so that any person who opens the condition report can understand what the problems on a particular piece include.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 148 • Trim: 8½ x 11

978-1-4422-4770-3 • Hardback • March 2015 • $110.00 • (£85.00)

978-1-4422-4771-0 • Paperback • March 2015 • $53.00 • (£41.00)

978-1-4422-4772-7 • eBook • March 2015 • $50.00 • (£38.00)

Subjects: Business & Economics / Museum Administration & Museology

Basic Condition Reporting

A Handbook, Fourth Edition

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

A good condition report is an accurate and informative account of an object’s state of preservation at a particular moment in time. Condition reports can have multiple functions such as recording the state of an object prior to an exhibition or loan, after exhibition or loan, to assist in collections planning, or as a tool for the treatment of an object. Most of these functions can be conducted by a registrar, curator, collections manager, or volunteer.

A good condition report fills many critical needs including:
- Knowing the exact condition of an object before or after a loan
- Helping staff determine the stability of an object for exhibit or loan
- Limiting how often an object is handled
- Informing object handlers of unseen problems
- Showing the condition of an object over time to determine the rate of deterioration
- Setting priorities for conservation
- Assisting the staff in identifying similar objects
- Aiding in the valuation of an object for insurance purposes
The fourth edition of Basic Condition Reporting: A Handbook proffers a standard vocabulary for all of the individuals in a museum that may be conducting condition reports. In an ideal world, everyone who does a condition report for an item would be trained in the exact same standards, use the same terminology, and use the exact same form, etc. However, the reality is that even if every registrar, collections manager, and curator in your institution does condition reports, each report will be slightly different. Then you throw in every intern, volunteer, or student that may assist and you will find a variety of methods and terminologies that appear. This volume provide a baseline that all of these people can work from so that any person who opens the condition report can understand what the problems on a particular piece include.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 148 • Trim: 8½ x 11

978-1-4422-4770-3 • Hardback • March 2015 • $110.00 • (£85.00)

978-1-4422-4771-0 • Paperback • March 2015 • $53.00 • (£41.00)

978-1-4422-4772-7 • eBook • March 2015 • $50.00 • (£38.00)

Subjects: Business & Economics / Museum Administration & Museology

Author

The Southeastern Registrars Association (SERA) was founded in 1978 to encourage high standards of museum practice and foster professional growth among museum registrars and collections managers in the southeastern region of the United States of America. SERA promotes the exchange and dissemination of information and ideas through professional development opportunities such as educational workshops and publications. SERA membership is open to those who are interested in collections and registration work in the southeastern United States and those who are interested in supporting this work. For more information about the organization, please visit our website at: http://www.seregistrars.org.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface

Chapter 1: General Condition Reporting

Chapter 2: Condition Report for Incoming and Outgoing Loans

Chapter 3: Archaeological Artifacts

Chapter 4: Basketry

Chapter 5: Ceramics and Glass

Chapter 6: Ethnographic Collections

Chapter 7: Furniture

Chapter 8: Metals

Chapter 9: Natural History Specimens

Chapter 10: Paintings and Frames

Chapter 11: Paper

Chapter 12: Photographs

Chapter 13: Plastics

Chapter 14: Sculpture

Chapter 15: Skin and Leather

Chapter 16: Textiles

About the Editors and Chapter Authors

Index

Reviews

From the time the first edition of Basic Condition Reporting: A Handbook was published by the Southeastern Registrars Association, the book has proven to be an invaluable resource to any museum professional who manages collections. This fourth edition contains the latest information on material types, needs, and descriptive terms as well as object handling techniques. It is a 'must have' for book shelves, although it will prove to be so useful that it will not often reside on the shelf but will be in almost continuous use.

— Martha Battle Jackson, Chief Curator at North Carolina State Historic Sites

Everyone doing condition reports should have this at hand. The object handling notes are extremely helpful for even veteran collections managers.

— Angela Kipp, collections manager, TECHNOSEUM, Mannheim, Germany, and co-founder and administrator of Registrar Trek