Mississippi Administrative Code
Title 16 - History, Humanities and Arts
Part 5 - Museum Division
Chapter 1 - Collections Policy
Rule 16-5-1.8 - Care of Collections

A. Inventory:

The director of collections with assistance from the collections staff is responsible for maintaining an up-to-date location record for all objects owned and accessioned into the historic objects collection by the Museum Division as well as those objects borrowed by the Museum Division.

The collections staff will complete a comprehensive inventory of the collections every ten years and will complete a spot check inventory on an annual basis. Inventories will be conducted according to specific procedures outlined in the inventory files.

B. Handling Collections:

The Museum Division's historic objects collection is to be handled only in a manner that enhances its preservation. Objects in the historic objects collection are to be handled only by trained Museum Division staff members or, on occasion, by trained Museum Division volunteers. The director of collections and the collections staff are responsible for training and supervising any such volunteers. Written guidelines for handling objects are included in the collections management manual maintained by the director of collections.

C. Conservation:

The Museum Division holds and cares for its collections as a public trust and is committed to the standards of collections care and conservation established by the American Institute for Conservation and Heritage Preservation. The Museum Division recognizes the importance of preventive maintenance and environmental monitoring and control in enhancing the preservation of collections. The Museum

Division will contract with professional conservators on a regular basis for professional conservation treatment of objects in the historic objects collection.

All conservation treatments will be properly executed and documented. The authority for conservation treatment of objects is shared by the director of curatorial services, director of conservation, director of collections, and the Museum Division director.

The director of conservation is responsible for preparing a strategic conservation plan detailing conservation priorities based on the recommendations of surveys of the collection and the building conducted by conservation professionals. The director of conservation will update the strategic plan on an annual basis and submit the plan to the Museum Division director for approval and incorporation into the Museum Division's comprehensive strategic plan. Written guidelines for Museum Division staff conservation procedures to be followed in case of emergency are located in the disaster preparedness manual maintained by the director of conservation.