There are numerous reasons why museums are reluctant to embark on disposal projects. Some of these barriers can be overcome internally, while others require a more significant shift in the sector.
The first step is talking about disposal.
“I would like the sector to hold an adult conversation about disposal and how we get on and do it,” says Sharon Heal, the director of the Museums Association (MA).
The association’s 2019 Empowering Collections report recommended “more effective collections reviews and rationalisation”. It supports this work through the Code of Ethics, a disposal toolkit and the Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund.
Beverley Cook, the curator of social and working history collections at the Museum of London, led a curatorial-initiated collections review and rationalisation project part funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation between 2014 and 2017.
She says the support of the MA is crucial in supporting disposal: “The excellent disposal toolkit together with sector sharing of experience is key to reassuring curators they are on the right path. But curators have a responsibility to reassure stakeholders by making them aware of the MA’s support to ethical and responsible rationalisation.”
But Heal says wider funding for collections rationalisation and dynamic collections management is needed: “Sector bodies, including funders, must take a lead on his, making it a requirement for project funding.”
Most agree that a sector-wide approach is needed, with all museum professionals engaged with the benefits and ethical approach to disposal.
Tehmina Goskar, the director and curator of the Curatorial Research Centre, says: “I would like to the sector to take an active interest in collections again. A museum who takes an active interest in its collections will understand their power and uniqueness. It will also be able to spot opportunities for amplifying its relevance to its communities and communities of interest. In order for this to be possible disposal needs to happen.
“This doesn’t mean cherry picking high-value items to plug financial gaps or set up endowments. It means that we as a sector need to speak more openly, publicly and comfortably about disposal.”
Jenny Durrant, a PhD researcher at the University of Leicester and freelance collections specialist, suggests the development of regional ethics committees to offer peer support to museums.
“These regional groups would use knowledge of the local situations to provide people undertaking disposals with encouragement, support and due diligence,” she says.
Ensuring the workforce is equipped with the right skills and attitudes to embrace disposal as part of collections management is also important.
“At the moment it seems we are getting rid of everyone who has the knowledge needed to make sensible decisions about collections and disposal,” Goskar says.
A new approach to collections, display and public engagement could bring real change to the whole sector and the way audiences view and use museums.
“Museums can’t continue to justify the investment of public money in storing objects – often in my experience in conditions poorer than they would be in someone’s home or workplace,” says Goskar. “Exhibitions also need to be questioned as the ‘sine qua non’ – central tenet – of the museum experience. Programmes that involve collections, masterclasses, show and tell events can be much cheaper and more memorable for visitors.”
Duncan Brown, the chairman of the Society for Museum Archaeology, suggests that museums should stop thinking of disposal as a solution to the lack of storage space.
“Disposal should be undertaken for sound curatorial reasons, not just because an object cannot be accommodated in the store,” he says. “That surely would lead to updated and properly consulted guidance on the principles behind disposal from museum collections, and the methods we should follow, with the aim especially of assisting inexperienced or non-specialist curators.
“This must be supported by a consensus for the rationale for disposal among museum professionals and governing bodies. There also needs to be recognition of the necessity for museums to continue to collect and curate, with curators that have appropriate expertise.”
Cook, at the Museum of London, agrees that disposal shouldn’t be undertaken in reaction to a storage initiated by non-curatorial staff.
“If curators begin to regard disposal more as a form of responsible collections management embedded in curatorial practice they will retain control of ethical disposal,” she adds. “A refined collection is more likely to reach its potential. It is easier to manage, document and store making it more accessible to staff, the public and academic researchers. These benefits should be reinforced whenever disposal is discussed both within and outside the sector.”
Above all, museums must overcome the fear surrounding disposal.
Sarah Briggs, the collections development officer at the MA, says: “Let’s find different ways to use these collections, repurposing and recycling – and not be afraid that it might even generate income.
“If you’ve followed all the proper steps in the disposal process, why not sell your sewing machines to hipster coffee houses or stick a typewriter in the middle of the gallery for kids to play on until its broken then replace with another one?”
Briggs also urges museums to overcome their reticence in talking about disposal projects, for fear of negative publicity. “We need more examples of positive disposals – as a sector we need to get the message out to the public that this is standard practice and it’s not about selling a Monet.”