APPENDIX 1
THE NATIONAL TRUST ACQUISITION AND DISPOSAL
POLICY
The National Trust: June 2005 (amended
June 2006)
THE NATIONAL
TRUST'S
ACQUISITION AND
DISPOSAL POLICY
FOR THE
CONTENTS OF
HISTORIC HOUSES
AND OTHER
PROPERTIES
Review Date 2010
1. EXISTING COLLECTIONS,
INCLUDING SUBJECTS
OR THEMES
FOR COLLECTING
The National Trust owns land and buildings in
England, Wales and Northern Ireland. These are acquired on the
authority of the governing body in accordance with the Trust's
stated purpose `of promoting the permanent preservation for the
benefit of the nation of the lands and tenements (including buildings)
of beauty or historic interest' of The National Trust Act 1907.
The National Trust Act 1937 extended the purpose
of the Trust to include the promotion of the preservation of furniture,
pictures and chattels of any description having national, historic
or artistic interest. Throughout this policy, wherever "historic
house" is used it is understood to include properties other
than historic houses with contents, such as Quarry Bank Mill and
Finch's Foundry.
The Trust has developed collecting policies
at its historic houses. These summarise ownership of the collections
and identify the items on loan. They also identify objects in
the ownership of others which the Trust would like to acquire
because of their association with a particular house or family.
Most of the Trust's collections are the "indigenous"
contents of particular houses it owns, ie, were made for a house
or have a long association or historical link with a property.
The Trust owns, or has on loan, some collections that lack this
link (for example, the Gubbay Collection at Clandon Park; the
Museum of Childhood, Sudbury Hall). The reasons for the Trust's
custodianship of these collections are set out in the Acquisitions
and Disposals Policy for the houses concerned.
2. CRITERIA GOVERNING
FUTURE COLLECTING
POLICY, INCLUDING
THE SUBJECTS
OR THEMES
FOR COLLECTING
2.1 Objects held for preservation
It is the Trust's policy to secure by gift,
bequest, transfer through the in lieu procedure or purchase
the contents of the historic houses it owns. Objects acquired
in this way are held for preservation, or so far as this is possible
within practical constraints.
In the past certain houses were accepted for
preservation while some or all of the "indigenous" contents
remained in the ownership of the donor family. In many cases the
contents have either been acquired subsequently or are secured
under loan agreements which give the Trust right of pre-emption
and a period of grace in which to raise the funds to acquire items
which owners wish to sell. Such contents, when acquired, are then
held for preservation.
2.1.1 Indigenous and associated objects
The Trust normally seeks to acquire objects
in the following categories:
— the indigenous contents of its historic
houses.
— indigenous contents that have left
a collection when these become available for acquisition.
— "non-indigenous" objects
that are associated with a house or its present or former occupants.
These objects are held for preservation.
2.1.2 Unrelated objects
From time to time the Trust acquires by gift,
bequest or purchase, objects or collections that are unrelated
by provenance or association with its historic houses.
If in making the gift or bequest, the donor,
or testator, makes conditions or expresses wishes, about the deployment
of the objects in question, those conditions or wishes are followed,
where possible, and the objects acquired in this way are held
for preservation.
2.2 Objects not held for preservation
2.2.1 Untied contents
Some benefactors give, or bequeath, assets that
may include objects on an unconditional basis upon the understanding
they may be disposed of and the proceeds used to acquire more
appropriate items. Bequests of objects and purchases made through
such benefactors are called "untied contents", which
are potential financial assets, are not part of the Trust's permanent
collection and are not held for preservation.
2.2.2 Objects purchased to furnish houses
On occasions, the Trust purchases objects to
furnish houses that have lost all, or a proportion of their indigenous
contents. In these circumstances the Trust regards the purchases
as untied contents as described above.
2.3 Authorisation levels
The National Trust governing body delegates
authority for acquisitions and disposals as follows:
Authorisation of acquisitions, including purchases,
and the acceptance of gifts and bequests, and disposals is given
on:
Items valued at £50,000 or under by the Head
Curator and Regional/Country Director, ratified by the Historic
Properties Director.
Items valued above £50,000 by the Projects and
Acquisitions Group.
Items valued above £1,000,000 by the Board of
Trustees.
3. PERIOD OF
TIME AND/OR
GEOGRAPHICAL AREA
TO WHICH
COLLECTING RELATES
This will vary from house to house and will
be defined in the Acquisition and Disposals Policy for individual
houses (see Appendix 1 for outline Policy).
4. LIMITATIONS
ON COLLECTING
The National Trust recognises its responsibility,
in acquiring additions to its collections, to ensure that care
of collections, documentation arrangements and use of collections
will meet the requirements of the Accreditation Standard. It will
take into account limitations on collecting imposed by such factors
as inadequate staffing, storage and care of collection arrangements.
5. COLLECTING
POLICES OF
OTHER MUSEUMS
The National Trust will take account of the collecting
policies of national, regional and local museums collecting in
the same or related area or subject fields and will consult with
such organisations where a conflict of interest may arise, or
to define areas of specialism to avoid duplication and waste.
The National Trust regards the historic association
of chattels, or collections of chattels, with their house of origin
as a matter of paramount importance. It has argued, and will continue
to argue, that objects benefit from display in the setting for
which they were commissioned or acquired.
6. POLICY REVIEW
PROCEDURE
The Acquisitions and Disposals Policy will be
published and reviewed from time to time, at least once every
five years. The next review falls in 2010. The MLA will be notified
of any changes to the Acquisition and Disposals Policy, and the
implications of any such changes for the future of existing collections.
7. ACQUISITIONS
NOT COVERED
BY THE
POLICY
Acquisitions outside the current stated policy
will only be made in very exceptional circumstances, and then
only after proper consideration by the governing body, and having
regard to the interests of other museums.
8. ACQUISITION
PROCEDURES
8.1 The National Trust will exercise due
diligence and make every effort not to acquire, whether by purchase,
gift, bequest or exchange, any object or specimen unless the governing
body or responsible officer is satisfied that the Trust can acquire
a valid title to the item in question.
8.2 In particular, the National Trust will
not acquire any object or specimen unless it is satisfied that
the object or specimen has not been acquired in, or exported from,
its country of origin (or any intermediate country in which it
may have been legally owned) in violation of that country's laws.
(For the purposes of this paragraph `country of origin' includes
the United Kingdom).
8.3 In accordance with the provisions of
the UNESCO 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing
the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural
Property, which the UK ratified with effect from 1 November 2002,
and the Dealing in Cultural Objects (Offences) Act 2003, the National
Trust will reject any items that have been illicitly traded. The
governing body will be guided by the national guidance on the
responsible acquisition of cultural property issued by DCMS in
2005.
8.4 So far as biological and geological
material is concerned, the National Trust will not acquire by
direct or indirect means any specimen that has been collected,
sold or otherwise transferred in contravention of any national
or international wildlife protection or natural history conservation
law or treaty of the United Kingdom or any other country, except
with the express consent of an appropriate outside authority.
8.5 The National Trust will not acquire
archaeological antiquities (including excavated ceramics) in any
case where the governing body or responsible officer has any suspicion
that the circumstances of their recovery involved a failure to
follow the appropriate legal procedures, such as reporting finds
to the landowner or occupier of the land and to the proper authorities
in the case of possible treasure as defined by the Treasure Act
1996 (in England, Northern Ireland and Wales) or reporting finds
through the Treasure Trove procedure in Scotland.
8.6 Any exceptions to the above clauses
8.1, 8.2, 8.3 and 8.5 will only be because the National Trust
is either:
acting as an externally approved repository of
last resort for material of local (UK) origin; or
acquiring an item of minor importance that lacks
secure ownership history but in the best judgement of experts
in the field concerned has not been illicitly traded; or
acting with the permission of authorities with
the requisite jurisdiction in the country of origin; or
in possession of reliable documentary evidence
that the item was exported from its country of origin before 1970.
In these cases the National Trust will be open
and transparent in the way it makes decisions and will act only
with the express consent of an appropriate outside authority.
9. SPOLIATION
The National Trust will use the statement of
principles `Spoliation of Works of Art during the Nazi, Holocaust
and World War II period', issued for non-national museums in 1999
by the Museums and Galleries Commission.
10. REPATRIATION
AND RESTITUTION
The National Trust's governing body, acting
on the advice of the Trust's professional staff, may make a decision
to return human remains, objects or specimens to a country or
people of origin. The Trust will take such decisions on a case-by-case
basis within its legal position and taking into account the ethical
implications of such a decision, and the preservation of the object
concerned.
11. MANAGEMENT
OF ARCHIVES
The National Trust holds archives, including
photographs and printed ephemera, and is guided in their care
by the Code of Practice on Archives for Museums in the United
Kingdom (third edition, 2002). The Trust also aims to meet
the standards outlined in the Royal Commission on Historic Manuscripts
Standards for Record Repositories (1990).
12. DISPOSAL
PROCEDURES
12.1 As stated above (paragraph 1), the
National Trust maintains its collections for preservation. The
Trust's governing body accepts the principle that, except for
sound curatorial reasons, there is a strong presumption against
disposal of any items held for preservation.
12.2 In those cases where the National Trust
is legally free to dispose of an item (if this is in doubt, advice
will be sought) it is agreed that any decision to sell or otherwise
dispose of material from the collections will be taken only after
due consideration.
12.3 When disposal of an object is being
considered, the National Trust will establish if it was acquired
with the aid of an external funding organisation. In such cases,
any conditions attached to the original grant will be followed.
This may include repayment of the original grant.
12.4 Decisions to dispose of items will
not be made with the principal aim of generating funds.
12.5. Any monies received by the National
Trust from the disposal of items will be applied for the benefit
of the collections. This normally means the purchase of further
acquisitions but in exceptional cases improvements relating to
the care of collections may be justifiable. Advice on these cases
will be sought from the MLA.
12.6 A decision to dispose of a specimen
or object, whether by gift, exchange, sale or destruction (in
the case of an item too badly damaged or deteriorated to be of
any use for the purposes of the collections), will be the responsibility
of the governing body of the National Trust acting on the advice
of professional curatorial staff, and not of the curator of the
collection acting alone. Delegated authority for the disposal
of items valued at under £300,000 will be given by the governing
body as described in section 2.3.
12.7 Once a decision to dispose of material
in the collection has been taken, priority will be given to retaining
it within the public domain, unless it is to be destroyed. It
will therefore be offered in the first instance, by gift, exchange
or sale, directly to other Accredited Museums likely to be interested
in its acquisition.
12.8 If the material is not acquired by
any Accredited Museums to which it was offered directly, then
the museum community at large will be advised of the intention
to dispose of the material, normally through an announcement in
the Museums Association's Museums Journal, and in other professional
journals where appropriate.
12.9 The announcement will indicate the
number and nature of specimens or objects involved, and the basis
on which the material will be transferred to another institution.
Preference will be given to expressions of interest from other
Accredited Museums. A period of at least two months will be allowed
for an interest in acquiring the material to be expressed. At
the end of this period, if no expressions of interest have been
received, the National Trust may consider disposing of the material
to other interested individuals and organisations.
12.10 Full records will be kept of all decisions
on disposals and the items involved, and proper arrangements made
for the preservation and/or transfer, as appropriate, of the documentation
relating to the items concerned, including photographic records
where practicable in accordance with SPECTRUM Procedure on deaccession
and disposal.
12.11 The National Trust does not consider
itself bound to adopt these procedures for "untied"
contents (see paragraphs 2.2.1 & 2.2.2 above). In such cases
it is the duty of the Trust, as a charity to dispose of the objects
in a way that maximises the benefit to the purposes of the Trust.
Gifts and bequests are disposed of in accordance with the wishes
of the owner or with the agreement of the executors. Authorisation
for the disposal of untied contents is given in the way described
is 2.3 above.
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