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Re: monetary appraisal



To the best of my understanding, materials which are accepted into museum
and archival collections should never be included in the institution's
financial statements as "assets."  While the materials may have financial
value, the were (or should have been) purchased as, or accepted as,
permanent additions to the repository's collections because they fit the
collecting scope of the repository and because the further the purpose for
which the museum or archives was created.  With that thought in mind, I am
in favor of assigning a value to collection items FOR INSURANCE PURPOSES.
Here's why.  Your institution uses its financial resources to purchase,
catalogue, store, conserve, and provide access to its collections.  As 501C3
(charitable) institutions, the artifacts and manuscripts in such
repositories are "owned" by the citizens of the state in which the
institution is incorporated, and the organization's "trustees" (board,
directors, etc.) are responsible for sound financial management of the
institution's assets so that the trust can continue in perpetuity.  If
collection items are lost (destroyed, stolen, damaged), I feel the citizens
for whom the trust was intended deserve some return for the loss.  Having
said that, few museums and archives could actually produce a schedule of
"insurance values" of items in their collections, as far as I know.  And the
insurance carrier may or may not settle a claim without a prior-existing
value having been recorded somewhere.

The valuing of collection items so they can show up on annual report seems a
dangerous practice to me.  It would appear to suggest that collection items
have a cash equivalent value and, as such, they could, for instance, be used
as collateral against a loan, or even sold to provide funds to cover
operating expenses.  The worst case scenario of this would be something like
selling off all the collections to pay for the construction of a new
building meant to house the collection, or a creditor taking possession of
collection items because you defaulted on a loan.

As ever, all disclaimers apply.  I have no legal training, but spent several
years trying to deal with these issues as the director or curator of small
local history museums.

Catherine Bruck
University Archivist
Illinois Institute of Technology
Paul V. Galvin Library
35 W. 33rd St.
Chicago, IL  60616
312/567-6840
FAX 312/567-5318
bruck@iit.edu


-----Original Message-----
From: Archives & Archivists [mailto:ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU]On
Behalf Of HatcherRE
Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2002 12:41 PM
To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
Subject: monetary appraisal


Hello,

I know this topic has been discussed in general before, but I've searched
the archives and found a limited number of relevant responses.

The position of archivist is new at my institution, and until my arrival,
donations of archival materials were appraised for monetary value by the
library's technical processing staff.  This value was entered into the
acquisitions system for inclusion in the museum's annual report, but NOT
used for tax or insurance purposes.  Since my arrival, this task has been
passed to me, but I'm uncomfortable with it (and haven't done it yet), in
part because I am not a manuscript appraiser, but more importantly because
it seems unethical and potentially illegal to appraise one's own material,
even if taxes and insurance are not involved.  I have tried to end the
practice, but have not yet succeeded.

So, my question are:

Do any of you ever assign a monetary value to a collection for internal or
departmental reasons?

If so, how do you determine value?  (I've already found the messages in the
listserv archives which list values for different kinds of
items--manuscripts, newspapers, pamphlets, etc, or per page of a collection.
Does anyone use a different method?)

If not, has it ever been considered?  Why was it rejected?  (I'd love to
convince the director that I shouldn't have to do this either.)

Do your annual reports include the value of that year's acquisitions, and
how do you arrive at that figure?

Thanks so much for your help.

I'll summarize helpful responses for the list.

Rebecca

Rebecca Hatcher, Archivist
Rakow Research Library of The Corning Museum of Glass
5 Museum Way
Corning, NY 14830
(607) 974-8099
HatcherRE@cmog.org

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