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Developing a Strategic Plan for the Cambridge Historical

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Developing a Strategic Plan for the Cambridge Historical Preparing the Past for the Future: Developing a Strategic Plan for the Cambridge Historical Society’s Objects Collection Heather Larson A Capstone in the Field of Museum Studies for the Degree of Master of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies Harvard University Extension School May 2018 Table of Contents Author’s Statement ........................................................................................................................ i 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1 2. Defining the Terms and Goals of the Objects Collection Strategic Plan ............................. 2 2.1 Strategic Planning ................................................................................................................ 2 2.2 Present State of the Cambridge Historical Society’s Collection .......................................... 3 3. Development of the Objects Collection Strategic Plan .......................................................... 5 3.1 Methodology ......................................................................................................................... 7 4. Elements of Collection Care ..................................................................................................... 8 4.1 Documentation ...................................................................................................................... 9 4.2 Policy .................................................................................................................................. 11 4.3 Collections Storage and Environment ................................................................................ 11 4.4 Pest Management and Emergency Planning for Collections ............................................. 14 4.5 Access .................................................................................................................................. 15 4.6 Deaccessioning ................................................................................................................... 18 5. Evaluation of the Objects Collection Storage and Documentation .................................... 19 5.1 Current State of Objects Collection Documentation .......................................................... 20 5.2 Current State of Environmental Storage Conditions .......................................................... 21 5.3 Current State of Objects Storage ........................................................................................ 21 6. Current Collection Needs and Goals of the Cambridge Historical Society ....................... 22 6.1 Institutional Needs and Expectations for the Objects Collection ....................................... 23 6.2 Limitations and Strengths ................................................................................................... 24 7: Methods and Approach .......................................................................................................... 25 7.1 How Peer Organizations Approached Similar Issues ........................................................ 25 7.2 Approach and Challenges for the Cambridge Historical Society ...................................... 27 8. Strategic Plan for the Objects Collection of the Cambridge Historical Society ............... 28 8.1 Inventory and Registration ................................................................................................. 28 8.2 Storage ................................................................................................................................ 29 8.3 Provenance and Identification ............................................................................................ 30 8.4 Assessment and Reporting .................................................................................................. 31 8.5 Access .................................................................................................................................. 31 8.6 Implementation of Objects Collection Strategic Plan ........................................................ 32 Appendix. Five-Year Strategic Plan for the Cambridge Historical Society’s Objects Collection ..................................................................................................................................... 34 Author’s Statement The research for the proposed Objects Collections Strategic Plan for the Cambridge Historical Society (CHS) presented in this paper is built upon my experience with the Society during a semester long internship I undertook in the spring of 2017. During the internship I began to take inventory of the objects collection, digitized inventory records in Past Perfect, scanned institutional documents regarding the collection, and helped incorporate objects from the collection into educational programming and events. Many of the preliminary assessments of the state of the CHS objects collection included in this research were based on my personal findings during my internship at the Society. It is my hope that this research will not only benefit the Cambridge Historical Society but other organizations that see themselves reflected in the analysis of the Society and their desire to improve upon collection stewardship. i 1. Introduction The desire to collect, preserve, and share communal history is the driving force behind many local history museums and the Cambridge Historical Society (CHS) is no different. Its mission states that the “Society is an active repository for Cambridge’s tradition and history. It will maintain any property entrusted to it and collect, preserve, and interpret items of historical and antiquarian significance” (“Collections Policy” 3). In recent years the Society has stretched and reimagined how to interpret local historic collections. “We hope to continue the strong legacy of meaningful programming that the organization has had in the past and really bring to life the amazing stories of Cambridge,” stated Executive Director Marieke Van Damme upon her hire in the summer of 2015, “we don’t want to emphasize the history of this building. We are not this building. We are not just this collection. We are the stories of everyone in Cambridge” (Feijo). This goal has manifested itself in dynamic programming that looks at Cambridge today through the lens of the city’s past. The Cambridge Historical Society has reached a crossroads, and it will be necessary to determine and clearly define the role that the collection will play in the new era of the organization. The Cambridge Historical Society was founded in 1905 by a group of local historians. Society meetings were held in member’s residences and community spaces until 1957, when the Society established an official home at the historic Hooper-Lee-Nichols house. Collecting for the organization, however, began in the early twentieth century (History of CHS). The collecting focus at Cambridge Historical Society was and continues to be documenting everyday life in Cambridge. During the interim before the acquisition of the Hooper-Lee-Nichols house, the collection was housed in several local repositories without the supervision of a professional staff member. The gap in early documentation continues to plague the collection to this day. 1 Before an organization can interpret and share its collection objects with researchers and the public, the collection must first have adequate care. Proper care, often described as collection stewardship, is comprised of inventory and documentation, storage, accessibility, and ongoing preservation of the objects. A museum's collection is the foundation all other functions of the organization are built upon. The five-year Strategic Objects Collection Plan proposed in this paper will guide the Cambridge Historical Society staff and volunteers through the essential process of gaining intellectual and physical control over the organization’s object collection so that the collection may better serve the organization’s mission and goals. 2. Defining the Terms and Goals of the Objects Collection Strategic Plan One of the Cambridge Historical Society’s objectives is to meet professional standards and best practices for the care of their collection. The guidelines developed by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) are considered the gold standard by American museums (Gardner and Merritt 1). The AAM defines the best practices of collection stewardship as owning and exhibiting collections appropriate to the mission of the museum, effectively managing documentation, on- going research, public access, and overall appropriate care to ensure the safety and preservation of the collection (Collection Stewardship). 2.1 Strategic Planning Strategic Plans are institutional documents that lay out a three to ten year plan, setting goals for all functions of a museum including: acquisitions, development, and operations (Developing an Institutional Plan 1). An Objects Collection Strategic Plan, like the one outlined in this paper, deals with a single function of a museum. The process of making an Objects Collection Strategic Plan, however, will share the same methodology of developing a wider organizational plan. 2 Rather than setting action steps for the functions of the entire organization, the proposed plan will set goals and plan for the functions of collections care including: inventory, documentation, storage, accessibility, pest management, emergency planning, and public access. The
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