I couldn't find any posts mentioning the the C&O HS having B&O Valuation maps for sale. No affiliation here, just found it interesting enough to share for those that don't know about it.

Auction Listing

The B&O Yahoo group board (groups.yahoo.com/group/Baltimore_and_Ohio) has an extensive and extremely heated discussion of this subject. The C&OHS has since removed the maps from auction, and a good thing.

From what I understand, these constitute the entire original set of 1918 maps made for the ICC valuation study, and had been donated by CSX to the C&OHS as part of a much larger group of materials. For whatever its reasons, the C&OHS arbitrarily decided to put these priceless donated documents up for public auction.

I don't know the reasons behind this, but in my opinion, the C&OHS's decision to auction these was, to put it most kindly, grossly irresponsible. More bluntly, it was reprehensible. Although the auction has been cancelled, my fear (among other things) is that this sort of action is can well put a curse on any legitimate railroad historical group seeking donations of materials.

It's a personal matter to me in that, at my advanced age, I'm trying to scout out groups and institutions to donate a lifetime's worth of photography and collecting. This has given me extreme pause. Certainly the C&OHS comes off the list, but now I have to wonder about any organization like it.

Herb Harwood

> I couldn't find any posts mentioning the the
> C&O HS having B&O Valuation maps for
> sale. No affiliation here, just found it
> interesting enough to share for those that
> don't know about it.


herbhar@yahoo.com

Donate or sell off? I ponder the same question about my amassed material. I finally told my wife to sell it all rather than donate it if I should pass away. I'm not too encouraged with the track record of museums and archives.

> It's a personal matter to me in that, at my
> advanced age, I'm trying to scout out groups
> and institutions to donate a lifetime's
> worth of photography and collecting. This
> has given me extreme pause. Certainly the
> C&OHS comes off the list, but now I have
> to wonder about any organization like it.

> Herb Harwood

Look, I understand the cynicism here, but I cannot as a museum professional understand why we are seemingly attacked wholesale as a group when one member (and I use that term loosely) screws up. Its like me saying I hate all railfans because some jerk 30 years ago stole the builder's plate of the Baldwin Shark units at Escanaba & Lake Superior and now they won't let any railfans near their property.

If a museum is accredited, (and no, I'm not always saying this is 100% the case) by AAM then they should have a "Mission Statement" which defines what they take. The long and the short of it is the C&OHS, IMHO, shouldn't have taken those items in the first place. They should stop at the C&O, period. That in many ways why the Pere Marquette Historical Society was started: many PM fans, researchers and collectors felt that the PM was under-represented in the C&OHS, and most importantly, that items of research value were not being made available for researchers. The PMHS now has an archive in the Joint Archives in Holland, Michigan for this purpose. They don't accept things other than from the Pere Marquette or its predecessors, with one exception: some C&O era items are excepted if the are from the ex-PM lines. IMHO, those blueprints should most likely have gone to the B&O Museum in Maryland; if CSX didn't figure that out, than C&OHS should have.

Our museum has a mission statement which reads the following: "The mission of the Port Huron Museum of Arts and History is to encourage appreciateion of the arts and history in our community through our commitment to education, community, and heritage. The museum's collecting goal is to collect, preserve, exhibit, and interpret works of art and items of historical interest, particularly those of St. Clair County, Michigan." We then break down what specific areas we target: Marine Lore, Railroads within St. Calir County, etc. We have deaccessioned items that don't pretain to our mission statement, and its is common and accepted practice. The object, obviously, is to not take in things that shouldn't be there in the first place so that you do not have to deaccession. But a good archivist and curator should constantly be asking if an item fits that mission statement. We deaccessioned a collection of Great Northern and Milwaukee Road timetables to the Northwest Railway Museum, and a similar collection of Burlington timetables to the the Trinity Valley. None of these railroads operated in the county, or in our state, (o.k., Milwaukee Road could be argued in U.P.) let alone St. Clair County. If they were GTW, C&O, PM, DC&S, PH&D, Rapid Railway, DUR, etc., then we wouldn't have touched them.

Long and the short; if you wish to donate your items or your collection: do the RESEARCH. Talk with people from different museum and historical organizations, ask for Mission Statements, talk to Curators and Archivists. Hey, if I had put that kind of effort into collecting this information in the first place, I would at least give that kind of effort to find a safe haven for my collection. If they don't agree with the stipulations you want, go someplace else. But PLEASE, do not generalize that all museums sell their collections, or all historical societies are crooks, because a single one has fallen off the horse. Our job is tough enough; that kind of thing makes it that much tougher.

TJ Gaffney

Port Huron Museum
tjgaffney@phmuseum.org

If you care to read about another viewpoint please go to Trainorders.com.

This is the message link,

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?2,632541

lamontdc@adelphia.net

I thoroughly agree, but the problem is that no matter how strong and professional an institution may be, management attitudes can and do change, and so do financial circumstances. This, unfortunately, is as much a truism in the museum business as it is anywhere else. The real point is that if and when these changes come, the collection is somehow protected from being dispersed willy-nilly into private hands where any number of things may happen to it.

The C&OHS was one of the earliest and most serious of the single-railroad historical organizations, and its reputation was such that CSX entrusted it with a huge amount of very historic material. I don't know why it included B&O and WM material along with C&O in this case, but it must have done so thinking that the C&OHS would handle it in the best manner.

But apparently the C&OHS's circumstances changed, and I must assume that it felt the need for money and mistakenly chose this route. But it's far from an isolated case. For example, here in Baltimore a year or two ago, the area's most prestigious art college decided to sell off its first-class art collection, many pieces of which had been on loan and displayed at the Walters Art Museum and Baltimore Museum of Art. Needless to say a similar storm arose, and was finally resolved when funds were raised to keep the collection in the city.

The point is that institutions can do this kind of thing any time, and at one time or another, many do despite all past promises to be virtuous. In some cases, in fact, there may be no choice. But in my opinion there should be some kind of written covenant that requires the institutions to sell or otherwise of dispose of their material only to some similar institution that will preserve the material for public use.

Herb Harwood

> Look, I understand the cynicism here, but I
> cannot as a museum professional understand
> why we are seemingly attacked wholesale as a
> group when one member (and I use that term
> loosely) screws up. Its like me saying I
> hate all railfans because some jerk 30 years
> ago stole the builder's plate of the Baldwin
> Shark units at Escanaba & Lake Superior
> and now they won't let any railfans near
> their property.

> If a museum is accredited, (and no, I'm not
> always saying this is 100% the case) by AAM
> then they should have a "Mission
> Statement" which defines what they
> take. The long and the short of it is the
> C&OHS, IMHO, shouldn't have taken those
> items in the first place. They should stop
> at the C&O, period. That in many ways
> why the Pere Marquette Historical Society
> was started: many PM fans, researchers and
> collectors felt that the PM was
> under-represented in the C&OHS, and most
> importantly, that items of research value
> were not being made available for
> researchers. The PMHS now has an archive in
> the Joint Archives in Holland, Michigan for
> this purpose. They don't accept things other
> than from the Pere Marquette or its
> predecessors, with one exception: some
> C&O era items are excepted if the are
> from the ex-PM lines. IMHO, those blueprints
> should most likely have gone to the B&O
> Museum in Maryland; if CSX didn't figure
> that out, than C&OHS should have.

> Our museum has a mission statement which
> reads the following: "The mission of
> the Port Huron Museum of Arts and History is
> to encourage appreciateion of the arts and
> history in our community through our
> commitment to education, community, and
> heritage. The museum's collecting goal is to
> collect, preserve, exhibit, and interpret
> works of art and items of historical
> interest, particularly those of St. Clair
> County, Michigan." We then break down
> what specific areas we target: Marine Lore,
> Railroads within St. Calir County, etc. We
> have deaccessioned items that don't pretain
> to our mission statement, and its is common
> and accepted practice. The object,
> obviously, is to not take in things that
> shouldn't be there in the first place so
> that you do not have to deaccession. But a
> good archivist and curator should constantly
> be asking if an item fits that mission
> statement. We deaccessioned a collection of
> Great Northern and Milwaukee Road timetables
> to the Northwest Railway Museum, and a
> similar collection of Burlington timetables
> to the the Trinity Valley. None of these
> railroads operated in the county, or in our
> state, (o.k., Milwaukee Road could be argued
> in U.P.) let alone St. Clair County. If they
> were GTW, C&O, PM, DC&S, PH&D,
> Rapid Railway, DUR, etc., then we wouldn't
> have touched them.

> Long and the short; if you wish to donate
> your items or your collection: do the
> RESEARCH. Talk with people from different
> museum and historical organizations, ask for
> Mission Statements, talk to Curators and
> Archivists. Hey, if I had put that kind of
> effort into collecting this information in
> the first place, I would at least give that
> kind of effort to find a safe haven for my
> collection. If they don't agree with the
> stipulations you want, go someplace else.
> But PLEASE, do not generalize that all
> museums sell their collections, or all
> historical societies are crooks, because a
> single one has fallen off the horse. Our job
> is tough enough; that kind of thing makes it
> that much tougher.

> TJ Gaffney


herbhar@yahoo.com

But in my opinion
> there should be some kind of written
> covenant that requires the institutions to
> sell or otherwise of dispose of their
> material only to some similar institution
> that will preserve the material for public
> use.

This is a tricky thing in the world of museum ethics. On the one hand, AAM in its code of ethics notes that "The distinctive character of museum ethics derives from the ownership, care, and use of objects, specimens, and living collections representing the world's natural and cultural common wealth. This stewardship of collections entails the highest public trust and carries with it the presumption of rightful ownership, permanence, care, documentation, accessibility, and responsible disposal."

On the subject of responsible disposal, AAM states "disposal of collections through sale, trade, or research activities is solely for the advancement of the museum¹s mission. Proceeds from the sale of nonliving collections are to be used consistent with the established standards of the museum's discipline, but in no event shall they be used for anything other than acquisition or direct care of collections."

A few key points here: 1. deacessioning, done properly, is ethical 2. proceeds from deaccessioning should only be used to care for collections or acquire new collections. It is a serious ethical breech to use proceeds from sale of deaccessioned items for general operating support. 3. proper deaccessoning practice varies by disciple.

For railway museums, the discipline-specific guidance comes from ARM's Recommended Practices. "A deaccessioning policy recognizing the museum's trust responsibility is to be developed in advance, for removing items accessioned into the permanent collections. (Note: Objects not accessioned into the museum's permanent collections do not need to go through a formal deaccessioning process.) Whenever possible, and consistent with the museum's fiduciary responsibility, the museum should dispose of deaccessioned objects to other museums, historical organizations, or similar education institutions, and by means of gift, trade, or sale, in that order."

Given this guidance, it seems probable that the C&OHS has not followed the applicable ethics rules in this instance.

However, the solution to this problem is not to encumber donationations by hedging them with legal restrictions. AAM also notes that a museum should ensure that "collections in its custody are lawfully held, protected, secure, unencumbered, cared for, and preserved." The key word there is "unemcumbered." Museums are actively discouraged from accepting gifts with binding restrictions, becuase these restrictions may impair title, lead to future legal complications and liablity, or may simply bind the hands of the museum in implementing its collections management policies. So, a really responsible museum will not accept restricted donations. An example of the consequences of clouded title is the flap over the Lachawanna Camelback at MOT--the artifact is a "permanent loan," which opens MOT to challenges from other parties against which they must defend.

I'm afraid the only solution is to select a recipient whose mission seems to ensure that the material you donate will be perceived as permanently valuable as far as one can reasonably forecast. If the material is paper or ephemra, look for an organization with a professional libvrarian or archivist who can care for the materials, catalog them, and make them useful to researchers. If the material is artifacts, make sure they match the mission of the organization you are giving them to. Ask if the museum has a collections policy and a deaccessioning policy--don't give to organizations that don't have these policies. Don't be afraid to ask the recipent what he or she would do with the stuff--a well-trained curator will tell you candidly which of your artifacts are shoe-ins for the permanent collection, which are of minor interest and might someday be deacesioned, and which are of no interest for the permanent collection.

After you've done your research, give and hope for the best. But most museum ethics experts recommend against accepting donations which are encumbered with legal restrictions, so the best, most ethical ones won't accept your donation on those terms.

eledbetter@rypn.org

Thanks for the reminder from the AAM and the thoughtful essay. Given the largely amateur population of railroad museum Boards, the occasional restriction in deeds of gift may be OK. Better to collect objects into the museum environment than to allow them to face certain destruction. The financial security of our organizations is always at risk.
Ora pro nobis.

i work for a AAM certified museum and I am proud of it. For those of you with questions like this discussion, I suggest that you look at the American Association of Museums web site.

Only about 10% of the museums are certified and mighty few of those are Industrial Archaeology related. But the fucture of railroad museums is things like the Reccomended Practices of the Association of Railway Museums.

Otherwise, we will always be percieved by the public as a bunch of grown up kids who want to play with trains and streetcars.

As has been said above, think about your collection, research where and what kind of institution would or should want your collection.
And remember, it may just be better to auction something, rather than have it disappear into the archives of the wrong institution.

I am glad I don't own anything as large as a train or a ship!

Ted Miles.


ted_miles@nps.gov