Institutional labs accepting outside work

I am exploring the possibility of widening the scope of activities
and services provided by the Conservation Department of The Henry
Ford Museum to include assisting other organizations and individuals
with the care of their collections. I am interested in hearing from
anyone who is familiar with this type of arrangement in museums.
Specifically I'm interested in the administrative structure of such
a system and its ability to serve both external clients (who pay for
services) and the needs of a parent organization. I have formulated
some specific questions however; I welcome any input regarding this
type of arrangement.

    1.  How does you museum balance the conservation work of your
        parent organization/museum with that of commissioned work
        that is carried out for other organizations or individuals?

    2.  Who pays for the insurance for artifacts in transit?

    3.  Who pays for the insurance for artifacts when they are in
        your conservation facility?

    4.  Do you advertise your conservation services? If so, where?

    5.  Is your staff allowed to accept commissioned work to be
        completed on their own time?

    6.  If so, are they required to first offer the work to the
        museum?

    7.) Have you added staff to accomplish this additional work?  If
        so, how many?

    8.  Have you added work space because of this additional work?

    9.  Does your institution receive a percentage of the commission
        if conservators work (during their own time) in the museum
        lab. If so, what percentage?

    10. What kind of services do you provide: treatment, collection
        assessment survey, training opportunities, scientific and
        analytical services, packing and shipping services, etc.?

    11. Additional comments? Suggestions?

Mary M. Fahey
Head of Preservation
The Henry Ford
20900 Oakwood Blvd
Dearborn, Michigan 48124
313-982-6072


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 20:8
                 Distributed: Wednesday, August 2, 2006
                        Message Id: cdl-20-8-014
                                  ***