Collections policy
Scottish Maritime Museum

3. GENERAL POLICY
3.1 This policy statement is for the regulation of the acquisition of items for the Collections of the Scottish Maritime Museum. The adoption and implementation of this policy by the Trustees of the Scottish Maritime Museum is a requirement of the Museum and Galleries Commission's Registration Scheme.

3.2 This policy statement represents the aims and plans of the Trustees of the Scottish Maritime Museum at the time of its adoption in December 1995, and as such will be subject to revision as the Museum develops. It is, as a result, intended that this policy should be reconsidered at least every five years, and a revised statement brought before the Trustees for their agreement.

3.3 This policy statement supersedes all previous and existing practices and policies, formal or informal, relating to the acquisition of items for the Collections of the Scottish Maritime Museum.

4. GENERAL RULES FOR COLLECTING
4.1 The Trustees accept the general principle that it is their responsibility to ensure, to the best of their ability, that all of the Collections in their care are adequately housed, conserved and documented.

4.2 The Museum will not acquire, whether by purchase, gift, bequest or exchange, any time, unless the Director acting on the Trustees' behalf is satisfied that valid title to the item in question can be acquired. In particular, no item will be collected which has been acquired in, or exported from, its country of origin including the United Kingdom, or any intermediate country in which it may have been legally owned, in violation of that country's laws.

4.3 Where an item is offered as a gift in good faith and the prospective donor is uncertain of the identity of the legal owner/s and the Museum is unable to find this out as a result of reasonable efforts, the Director shall be permitted to accept the item, provided a permanent and detailed not of the circumstances and known facts is made at the time of acceptance.

4.4 No biological or geological specimen will be acquired unless the Director, acting on the Trustees' behalf, is satisfied that it has not been collected, sold or otherwise transferred in contravention of any Law or treaty of the United Kingdom or any other Country, unless acquisition has been specifically authorised by an appropriate outside authority, such as a court.

4.5 The Museum accepts the legal principle of "Bona Vacantia", under which the discovery of antiquities is a matter for report to the Procurator Fiscal. Archaeological material will, therefore, not be acquired by any means other than allocation to the Museum by the Secretary of State's Finds Disposal Panel, unless the Director, acting on the Trustee's behalf, is satisfied that the items in question are either of a class of material the discovery of which does not warrant a report to the Procurator Fiscal, or have not been found recently, or were not found in Scotland.

4.6 No excavated or archaeological material discovered outside of Scotland will be purchased unless the Director acting on the Trustees' behalf can be certain that the circumstances of excavation or recovery did not involve the recent unscientific destruction of, or damage to, ancient monuments, know archaeological sites or places of special scientific or historical interest, or failure to disclose find to the owner or occupier of the land where found, or to any proper authority.

4.7 In order to fulfil its function as a body concerned to preserve and maintain historic machinery and technological artefacts, the museum will need to acquire items such as parts and spare materials for use in restoring machines or artefacts. It is also the Museum's intention to maintain a "handling" collection for education or similar purposes. Materials suitable for either of these two categories of activity should be identified on acquisition and should not be accessioned into the permanent collections, for the nature of these activities cannot guarantee preservation or the maintenance of the integrity of the object.

5. ACQUISTION PROCEDURES
5.1 The Director as the Trustees senior museum professional, will have delegated authority and responsibility for the acceptance or rejection of potential gifts or bequests to the Museum, for soliciting gifts of material for the Collections within the terms of this policy, and for making recommendations and taking action on the purchase of materials in accordance with this Policy and within the Trustees Financial Regulations.

5.2 Where the acquisition of any item would result in significant financial implications in respect of storage, conservation or display, the matter will be referred to the Trustees for decision.

5.3 Items offered to the Museum as gifts or bequests will not normally be accepted if they are subject to any restrictive covenant or special conditions, such as that they be displayed in a particular way. In exceptional circumstances, if the Director feels that the item(s) in question are of over-riding importance, the Trustees may be asked to approve the acquisition of a specific item to which conditions are attached. A general exception to this rule will be deemed to exist in respect of restrictive covenants or conditions intended only to assure the permanent protection of the item concerned in the Museum's collections, such as restrictions placed upon any legal powers of disposal that the Museum may have; under such circumstances, the Director may reasonable recommend that the Trustees accept the gift or bequest in question.

5.4 The acceptance of items on loan, normally for a finite period for display or specific study, may be authorised by the Director acting on the Trustees' behalf. In exceptional cases, a privately owned item of major importance that falls within the scope of this Policy may be accepted on a finite long loan, whether or not it is required for immediate display or study. No item will be received on "permanent loan", as this term has no legal status. The period of all loans will normally be agreed in writing between the Director and the owner of the item at the time of deposit. Where the term of a loan has expired, it may be renewed or extended for further finite periods, at the discretion of both the owner and the Director.

6. COLLECTION AREA
6.1 The collection area of the Scottish Maritime Museum will be the Maritime Heritage of Scotland. Maritime Heritage includes the commercial, industrial, social and cultural aspects of man's relationship with the seas, lochs, rivers and inland waterways of Scotland.

6.2 The Scottish Maritime Museum acknowledges that certain other museums (for example, the Scottish Fisheries Museum, the National Museums of Scotland and Glasgow Museums and Art Galleries), have traditionally collected within the area of Maritime Heritage. The Scottish Maritime Museum will work with such museums to ensure that material is preserved in the most appropriate place, given that nature of the items and their provenance. The Scottish Maritime Museum will also work in a similar fashion with institutions concerned with the preservation of archives.

6.3 Items made in, at some point used within, or otherwise provenanced to the Museum's Collecting Area, may be acquired, regardless of their location at the time of acquisition. Where this involves the collection of items from a sphere of influence of another museum, a principle of open actions and good communication will apply.

6.4 In an emergency, and to ensure the preservation locally of important material, the Director is exceptionally authorised to collect material from outside the museum's stated collection area, not yet covered by any museum service. Such material is acquired on the understanding that it will be transferred to other museums at a future date.

7. RELATIONSHIP TO COLLECTIONS DISPOSAL POLICY
This Collections Acquisitions Policy must be read in conjunction with the Collections Disposal Policy of the Scottish Maritime Museum.