Online course on museum registration

MS103: The Basics of Museum Registration
Instructor: Peggy Schaller
Dates: July 11 - August 5, 2005
Price: $350

The Northern States Conservation Center
(<URL:http://www.collectioncare.org>) is pleased to announce the
return of one of its building-block courses:  The Basics of Museum
Registration at <URL:http://www.museumclasses.org>.  This course
covers the basics of museum record keeping. The mission statement is
emphasized as the foundation for the museum. Then students learn of
the importance of establishing set policies and procedures. The
terms 'registration' and 'accession' will be defined and the process
discussed. Three common types of numbering systems will be reviewed
and the answer to the question "Why do museums put those little
bitty numbers on all their artifacts?" will be revealed. Finally,
The Museum Registration Manual, its importance for the museum and
what it should contain will be reviewed.

Participants will be asked to create a mission statement, collection
policy and acquisition policy for a 'new' museum; comment on one of
the selected readings about museum missions; complete an
accessioning exercise; and for the final class project create a
sample registration manual for our 'new' museum.

Class Outline:

    1.  Introduction
    2.  The Museum Mission Statement
    3.  Accessioning and Numbering
    4.  Registration Manual
    5.  Conclusion

The course format is self-paced through 5 sections. The instructor
will be available at predetermined intervals throughout the course.
Students will be working individually and interact through forums
and scheduled on-line chats. Materials include web versions of
reading materials and lecture notes. Supporting resources include
message forums, weekly online chats, email support, projects,
quizzes, and links to relevant websites.

The course will last for four weeks and cover all the details needed
to begin processing a collection. This course will include handouts,
on-line literature, slide lectures, and
student-teacher/group-teacher dialog. The course is limited to 20
participants.

If you are interested in the course, please sign up at
<URL:http://www.museumclasses.org> and pay for the course at
<URL:http://www.collectioncare.org/tas/tas.html>.  If you have
trouble with either, please contact Helen Alten at
helen<-a t->collectioncare< . >org.

Here is a comment from one of last year's students:

   "I thought the powerpoint was great and that the resources
    (readings etc) kind of applied the stuff we learned to real
    life. I definitely think I got a good survey of the registration
    process. I liked the exercise where we chose the different items
    we would have in the museum. That one was hard because I didn't
    always know how to justify something I wanted or didn't want. It
    was a good exercise. I really had to spend some time on it. I
    was even asking my family at the dinner table and we were all
    talking about what we would keep and what we wouldn't! I would
    definitely take another class." - Student in MS103


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 18:46
                   Distributed: Sunday, April 3, 2005
                       Message Id: cdl-18-46-018
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