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Creating a Collection: A Tour Through the Smith College Museum of Art

Betye Saar's "Ancestral Spirit Chair"

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Careful consideration and approval Before a museum can remove objects from its collection, it must demonstrate a process of carefully selecting and justifying what will leave. Under current ethical guidelines, this means that a list must be made of what is removed. The list often must be generated by curatorial staff or the directors, not by trustees or funders from outside the museum.

Then, other staff and advisors must review the objects being considered for removal and decide whether or not they approve of these choices, considering the factors that motivate dea ccessioning in the first place.
Prior to the deaccessioning in the 1940s, the SCMA's staff made detailed lists of artworks they consider removing from the collection.
The director shared these lists with Smith faculty, who approved the sale of most artworks named. The list seen below shows the artworks the faculty wanted to retain.

This indicates one step in the museum's process of careful consideration before deaccessioning. Even though this moment is not a proud one in the museum's history, the curators who removed these artworks from the collection did so thoughtfully and carefully.
Deaccessioning also must consider how the objects came into the collection.
Most museums prohibit removing donated artworks from their collections. If an artwork was donated to the museum, it is often done so with trust that the artwork will always stay in the museum's collection.

Sometimes, donors will allow for their gifted artworks to be sold, but may specify that all funds earned must be used to buy more art of a similar style. An example of this is Betye Saar, Ancestral Spirit Chair.

Purchased with the proceeds from the sale of a work donated by Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Rittmaster (Sylvian Goodkind, class of 1937) in 1958 and with funds realized from the sale of a work donated by Adeline Flint Wing, class of 1898, and Caroline Roberta Wing, class of 1896, in 1961, 1992:42a-c
To learn more about the Purposeful Use of Funds, check out that page.

To explore more works of art removed from the SCMA's collection, click on an artwork you see below.
Purposeful Use of Funds If a museum decides to sell an artwork, it must use the money it makes for "acquisition or direct care of collections." This means a museum must buy new artwork or—in some cases—use the money to support conservation or care of artworks already in the collection.

Betye Saar's Ancestral Spirit Chair is a great example of this.
Purchased with the proceeds from the sale of a work donated by Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Rittmaster (Sylvian Goodkind, class of 1937) in 1958 and with funds realized from the sale of a work donated by Adeline Flint Wing, class of 1898, and Caroline Roberta Wing, class of 1896, in 1961, 1992:42a-c
When a museum tries to break this rule, it can get in serious trouble with the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD). Consequences are that the museum cannot borrow works from other museums, including traveling exhibitions. When you break the rules, you don't get to play.

See the (Example) The Kemper Museum of Art at the University of Washington, St. Louis for another example of the Purposeful Use of Funds.