After our poll you might have asked yourself what we did with the whiskey wagons in the end?

Well, we emptied the one that was already open as we considered the whiskey could probably evaporate over time and damage the wagon. The plug already looked a wee bit suspicious. We left the sealed bottle untouched. We didn’t accession the whiskey as we assumed that if the whiskey itself will become a subject of research, scientists could still examine the whiskey in the sealed bottle. Of course, we documented all of this in our database.

Full disclosure: Our expert on all things whiskey said it will not get better or gain more value if stored in a bottle, but he also assured us that it should still be good. Strangely enough, none of us was willing to volunteer tasting it.

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For all of us working on the task to improve documentation in our museums it is often hard to get the point across to the colleagues who are not so deeply involved in the discussions about standards and long-term preservation. Maybe we are too deeply involved to make the concept clear. Maybe we have to take a different approach. Maybe we have to tell the story from a different angle. Let’s try it this way:

This summer I was taking care of an elderly lady. She’s 17 years old. Well, that’s quite an age for a cat, it’s well over 80 in human years! Her owner went on vacation for two weeks, so our local catsitter association was taking over, making sure the cat could stay in her own home. Mau was a very distinguished, lovely, elderly lady, but as it inevitably comes with age, she had some medical issues. She had to take some drugs every day. Which can be a challenge already if you care for a human being. If your nursing case is a cat it can be a daunting task. And, due to some liver and kidney issues, it was very important to monitor if she was eating properly. When she refused to eat for 24 hours, it was a warning signal. Something had to be done to convince her, like opening a box of tuna. If she refused to eat for more than 48 hours, it was an emergency which needed special medication and maybe the vet.
As the owner loved his cat, he wrote down a few pages of “instruction manual” including all of the cat’s needs. It stated what drugs, how many, when and how needed to find their way inside the cat. It also stated some tricks that went well in the past, like hiding pills inside a special kind of sausage. He also held a training session before he left so we could practice the application under his supervision.

When another catsitter and I took over, we realized from the start that we would need some way to monitor cat issues, like: has the cat taken her drugs and has she eaten properly? As one would look for the cat in the morning and one in the evening we wouldn’t see each other. As we both were working and had busy schedules, phoning was not an option. Mailing or texting seemed cumbersome and not completely reliable. So, we placed a sheet of paper in the kitchen where we could monitor the “state of cat” every day. We wrote down things like “application of kidney medication went well, but she refused to take red pill” or: “food bowl was still full”. We also used this “diary” to share some observations like “loves being brushed” and tricks like “If you hide the pill in a treat she won’t take the treat. But if you throw to her a few treats without pills and she starts eating them you can smuggle a pill into the next treat.”

As you can imagine, all went well, and we could hand over a happy, well medicated cat when the owner returned.

What does this story have to do with documentation?

Well, the underlying concept here is care. All people involved did what they did because they cared. Now, the objects in our collections are not living, purring creatures. But as we care for them, we do something very similar with documentation:

• We make sure that everything that is important to know about our collection is stored in a central document or documents, quite like the “instruction manual” for the cat. They state what, why, when and how things have to be done. These are mainly our handling instructions and some of it might be found in our collections policy.
• We also make sure that these documents are accessible to everybody who is involved in caring for our collections.
  In our story the “instruction manual” was stored on the kitchen table so everybody could turn to it as a reference in case of doubt. It would not have been a good solution if the owner just had handed it to both catsitters: in case one catsitter fell ill, a replacement would not have had access to the document.
• We create possibilities to document what happened to our objects. We make sure that everybody can learn what happened when to an object, no matter if she or he works with the object in one hour or in 20 years. That’s why we take down object related information like damages, location changes, loans or conservation treatment in our object’s records, just like we did with the “diary” for the cat.
• We use clear language and avoid slang so no matter who is reading our documentation in the future is able to understand what we mean.
• Finally, we don’t rely on documents alone. We also hold training sessions about how to update an object record correctly and how to handle our objects.

So, next time a colleague fails to report a location change or damage, maybe don’t bore her or him with a lecture on the importance of documentation. Instead you might like to tell a story of a lovely, elderly, purring little cat.

Angela

The advent is probably a stressful time everywhere – opposed to what its original intention was. And sometimes you hear from colleagues working in other fields of the museum: “You registrars are lucky. The exhibition opening was in November and you don’t have to organize all those Christmas events…” Oh, if only it were so…

Deck the halls with boughs of holly

Christmas decoration is beautiful. But it also holds a lot of potential conflict. Of course, the decoration should not be dangerous for artifacts. Freshly cut trees from the woods can be the home of various pests, glitter has a tendency to be everywhere, especially where it’s not intended to be, and if you are watching out which materials are used in the vicinity of objects all year you are naturally suspicious about artificial snow from a spray can… It’s plain to see that the registrar is not the most loved colleague when organizing a Christmas party for the patrons of the museum.

All I want for Christmas is you (or a tax deduction)

Just before Christmas many people realize that the tax declaration for this year will be due next year. If you want a tax deduction valid for this year all the paperwork and the physical transfer of this object must be done this year. And that’s why many people want to do something good for the museum in December. The attic and grandma’s cabinet hold a large amount of valuable artifacts, that’s what the noble donor thinks. So, the registrar has to do a lot of checking, organizing transports and issuing deeds of gift.

I saw three ships on Christmas Day

Longterm loans often are issued with an end date of December 31. Now, no one wants to work on New Year’s Eve, so it’s now time for the decision if the loan period should be prolonged or if the object is returned. If it is returned, it’s naturally returned this December. If it stays where it is, the loan contract has to be prolonged. In either case it’s a job for the registrar.

Oh the weather outside is frightful…

The previous two points show that there is much transportation going on around this time of year. Unfortunately, it’s also the time when it’s winter on the Northern hemisphere. Snow, frost, wind, dead leaves… All those things that point towards leaving doors and gates shut. Unfortunately, this isn’t always possible. So the registrar keeps watching the weather reports to choose good days for transport. And he or she keeps a close eye on doors and gates to make sure they are not kept open longer than absolutely necessary – which annoys his or her colleagues who have to bring in the Christmas decoration and chairs for the Christmas party.

Christmas Lights

The days before Christmas you get together, drink some tea and eat Christmas cookies. To make it more comfortable you light a few candles – and get into trouble with your registrar who sees this as a fire hazard. Rightly so as statistics show that around Christmas the number of damages due to fire increase about 40% (in Germany, source). Pro tip: Use LED lights instead of real candles and calm the nerves of your fellow registrar with some cookies.

Along these lines I wish all colleagues a joyful pre-Christmas period despite of all the work!

Angela

This post is also available in Italian translated by Marzia Loddo.

by Janice Klein, Executive Director, Museum Association of Arizona on June 08, 2016, originally published on the AASLH Blog

I just spent five days in Washington, D.C., at the American Alliance of Museums Annual Meeting and, while I am sure there were many things I should have been doing to prepare myself for the intensity of the information and social overload that was ahead, I found myself focusing on shoes as I prepared for the conference.

Here’s the thing about women’s shoes and conferences. You really can’t wear daytime “business” shoes for two days in a row since they are just not designed for all the walking and standing you need to do. So if you’re going to a two-day conference you need two different pairs of daytime shoes. You also need a pair of comfortable walking-around/traveling shoes, and if you’ve got an evening party you also want a pair of dressy shoes. We’re now up to four pairs of shoes for two days. Stupid, right?

To be honest there are comfortable business shoes for women, but they can be prohibitively expensive and frankly, don’t tend to be very fashionable. And yes, you can wear comfortable shoes, but no matter what color they are, they pretty much always look like comfortable shoes.

Flats in a variety of styles and colors are increasingly available, and generally are better for the walking around part (although still may not give enough support for standing for long periods of time), but when you’re only five feet tall like me, at least a little bit of heel is required to hold your own with taller colleagues.

And here’s another thing. I, like many other women—and lots of men, too—really, really like shoes. I’m sure there’s a sociological, if not psychological doctoral dissertation to be written here, but it is undeniable that shoes are fun. Honestly, would Sex and the City really have been so popular if they were all wearing running shoes the way women actually do in New York City?

For the most part my male colleagues can manage with one, or maybe two pairs of shoes, no matter how long a conference lasts. To be fair, I have noticed that men are beginning to wear comfortable shoes, too, but then again, who looks at men’s shoes? And while we’re on the subject of men’s and women’s clothing, most conference spaces set their temperature controls to be comfortable for men in suits and ties. That means the rest of us get to wear a variety of sweaters, jackets and the ever-indispensable shawl. My guess is that it is conference-going women who are responsible for the continued success of the pashmina.

I have now developed the habit of laying out all the possible shoes I could wear and then slowly narrowing down my choices to a mere three or four (and the outfits that would go with them). Several years ago, when I was doing some last minute shoe-shopping I hit upon one possible solution. When asked by the eager young salesman what I was looking for, I almost said “the Ruby Slippers.” And then I realized, that was exactly what I needed. They fit Dorothy perfectly, they went with everything (although she never actually changed her clothes), were obviously comfortable enough to walk long distances and even dance in, ensured everyone’s success, and got her home safely. I never found the shoes, but I do have a Ruby Slippers pin that I wear often at conferences.

When I told people I was writing about women’ shoes and conferences, I didn’t know whether this was going to be funny, angry or satirical. So many women – and men – I talked to had their own shoe stories that I realized what I have to say is clearly affirming for me and my colleagues. So, no, it is not stupid to pack four pairs of shoes—or more—for a two-day conference. Unless, of course, you do happen to own the Ruby Slippers.

[Editor’s note: The author has provided supporting evidence in the form of pictures of AAM attendees’ feet. These can be seen below.]