TITLE III
HISTORICAL SOCIETY—
GENERAL POLICIES
CHAPTER 13
COLLECTIONS POLICIES
[Prior to 5/31/89, see [490] 1.8, Ch 5 and [223] 14.1]
223—13.1(303) Purpose. The society strives to acquire materials on, by, about, of, or representative of Iowa, Iowans, and activities of Iowans. This includes, but is not limited to printed materials, archives, manuscripts, photographs, machine readable data, artifacts, specimens, and works of art.
223—13.2(303) Definitions. The definitions listed in Iowa Code section 17A.2 and rules 223—1.2(303) and 22.2(303) shall apply for terms as they are used throughout this chapter. In addition, the following definitions apply:
“Accession” means the act of recording or processing an addition to the collections of the society.
“Acquisition” means the act of obtaining legal title to an object or document.
“Artifact” means a man-made object.
“Collection” means an orderly assemblage of man-made or natural objects.
“Deaccession” means the act of removing an object from the collections permanently.
“Loan” means the act of temporarily transferring custody of an object.
“Specimen” means a natural object.
223—13.3(303) Location. Collections of the society are maintained at all facilities operated by the society. Information concerning collections may be obtained by contacting the appropriate staff at the facilities noted in 223—subrule 1.5(1).
223—13.4(303) Management of collections.
	13.4(1)  Areas of responsibility. All bureaus may have responsibility for collections care and management and will cooperate with each other on behalf of the collections.
	13.4(2)  Collections committee.
	a. 	Responsibilities. The collections committee shall act to:
	(1)	Develop and annually review a collecting plan, from staff recommendations, which shall identify primary areas for active solicitation of additional collections;
	(2)	Establish general parameters, from bureau recommendations, for collecting, within which materials may be collected without further referral to the collections committee;
	(3)	Review and act on requests from all bureaus concerning potential acquisitions which might involve materials whose care would involve more than one bureau;
	(4)	Review and act on requests from all bureaus concerning potential major acquisitions that might involve a significant investment of staff time, storage space, or financial resources;
	(5)	Review and act on requests for restrictions on donations;
	(6)	Review and act on questions concerning the collections referred to the committee by any member of the staff with the knowledge of the staff person’s supervisor;
	(7)	Approve loans requiring extraordinary indemnification;
	(8)	Approve extraordinary collection access requests;
	(9)	Approve methods for the disposition of materials anonymously left to the society; and
	(10)	Approve all loans from the collections to government offices except for routine record requests from state government agencies.
	b. 	The actions of the committee shall become effective within ten working days after the minutes of the committee meeting are received by the administrator, unless an action of the committee is specifically reversed by the administrator in writing to the chair of the committee. The committee may request an earlier decision by the administrator if the nature of the recommended action requires it.
	c. 	The committee shall recommend actions to the administrator of the society for approval and referral to the board of trustees of the society concerning materials to be deaccessioned from the collections.
	d. 	Composition. The committee shall consist of seven members. The members shall include the following:
	(1)	Archivist from the staff of the society, appointed by the division administrator;
	(2)	Museum curator from the staff of the society, appointed by the division administrator;
	(3)	Librarian from the staff of the society, appointed by the division administrator;
	(4)	Community programs staff representative from the staff of the society, appointed by the division administrator;
	(5)	Member of the board of trustees, appointed by the president of the board of trustees;
	(6)	Member representing the public appointed by the president of the board of trustees; and
	(7)	One member from the staff, appointed by the administrator of the society. The administrator of the society is an ex officio, nonvoting member of the committee.
	e. 	Organization of the committee.
	(1)	Members of the committee shall be appointed for two-year staggered terms which coincide with the state fiscal year.
	(2)	The committee chair shall be appointed by the administrator of the society from among the committee members who are staff members of the society.
	(3)	The committee shall meet on a quarterly basis. The meetings shall be called by the chair. Additional meetings may be called by the petition of any three voting members of the committee.
223—13.5(303) Acquisition.
	13.5(1) General policy. The following general policies apply to all areas of the collections. More specific policies for the state archives are noted in subrule 13.5(2).
	a. 	The society may acquire materials by gift, bequest, transfer, or purchase.
	b. 	The staff of the society shall evaluate potential acquisitions for their relevance to the collections, research, exhibit, educational, intrinsic, historical, or scientific importance, physical condition, relationship to the annual collecting priorities established by the collections committee, and impact upon the operations of the society.
	c. 	Title to all donations shall be outright. Certain restrictions on access may be considered by the collections committee. The society shall make no commitments as to the exhibition, attribution, or use of the gift.
	d. 	A deed of gift documenting the legal transfer of the gift to the society and the acceptance of that gift shall be signed by the legal owner or the owner’s authorized agent and the appropriate authorized agent of the society.
	e. 	Materials left anonymously in the custody of the society shall be evaluated for possible accession into the collections.
If the materials are to be accessioned into the collections, the materials shall be documented by the appropriate authorized agent of the society. The documentation shall describe the circumstances pertaining to the acquisition.
If the materials are not to be accessioned into the collections, disposition of the materials shall be determined by the collections committee upon the recommendation of the appropriate bureau.
	f. 	Bequests of which the society has not been apprised shall be considered as unsolicited materials and evaluated in the same manner as any other unsolicited gift.
	g. 	Title to undocumented collections in the possession of the society or unclaimed loans in the possession of the society shall be handled in accordance with Iowa Code chapter 305B.
	h. 	The staff of the society shall not appraise collections for financial value. The society shall not pay for nor reimburse a donor for such appraisal costs.
	13.5(2) State archives. Records of state agencies shall be transferred to the state archives of the society, in accordance with the rules and procedures established by the state records commission as stated in the Records Management Manual and in accordance with Iowa Code chapter 304.
223—13.6(303) Deaccession.
	13.6(1)  Purpose. Deaccession of materials shall be undertaken only as a means of strengthening and benefiting the collections of the society. Deaccession shall not be used to generate operating funds for the society.
	13.6(2)  Ethics.
	a. 	Deaccession of materials shall be undertaken in an open, public manner conforming to all appropriate ethics statements of the appropriate professional organizations. The society and its employees shall conform to all appropriate professional ethics statements.
	b. 	In no circumstance shall the ownership of deaccessioned materials be transferred to or benefit any trustee, employee, spouse or immediate family member of an employee of the society.
	13.6(3) Criteria. Individual objects or documents or groups of objects or documents may be deaccessioned from the collections of the society if they:
	a. 	Are no longer deemed relevant and appropriate for the collections; or
	b. 	Have deteriorated beyond repair and usefulness; or
	c. 	Pose danger to other parts of the collections.
	13.6(4) Procedure.
	a. 	The appropriate bureau chief shall recommend, with written justification, to the collections committee the materials to be deaccessioned. The collections committee shall evaluate the recommendation at its next meeting and, if the committee approves the recommendation, forward the recommendation with all appropriate documentation and comments to the administrator of the society.
	b. 	The administrator of the society shall approve or disapprove all recommendations for deaccession of materials by the collections committee and shall forward all approved recommendations with comments to the board of trustees.
	c. 	The board of trustees shall review all recommendations for deaccession at the next meeting. No materials shall be deaccessioned without the approval of the board of trustees.
	d. 	The method for disposition of the deaccessioned materials shall be recommended by the bureau chief and approved by the collections committee, administrator of the society, and the board of trustees. The methods for disposition of the deaccessioned materials include, but are not limited to, the following methods:
	(1)	Exchange with other educational institutions to strengthen the collections of the society;
	(2)	Donation to another educational institution which may make the materials generally accessible to the public;
	(3)	Sale at public auction or other appropriate means; or
	(4)	Destruction.
	e. 	A complete written record of deaccession recommendations, justifications, decisions, and methods used for removal of the materials shall be maintained as a permanent record of the society.
	13.6(5) Limitations.
	a. 	Revenue received from disposition of any collection shall be retained in a separate revenue account. This revenue shall be used solely to maintain, conserve, preserve, and strengthen the collections of the society.
	b. 	Prior to consideration of the deaccession of undocumented materials or unclaimed loans, the title shall be cleared in accordance with Iowa Code chapter 305B.
	c. 	Collections which are donated to and accessioned by the society shall not be deaccessioned for a period of two years after accessioning into the collections.
223—13.7(303) Documentation and care.
	13.7(1) Records.
	a. 	Permanent collection records shall be maintained to document the acquisition, accession, deaccession, care, conservation, interpretation, location, and exhibition of all collections.
	b. 	All collections documentation shall be maintained in accordance with Iowa Code chapter 305B.
	c. 	Collections records shall be protected, insofar as possible, from destruction by creating duplicate files to be stored in an off-site location.
	13.7(2) The society shall apply professionally accepted methods of storage, treatment, care, conservation, preservation, research, and exhibition. The society shall make every effort to ensure adequate preservation through obtaining of adequate preservation funds.
	13.7(3) Inventories, catalogs, and other finding aids shall be made available to the public as staff availability and society funds are obtained.
223—13.8(303) Lending.
	13.8(1)  General policy. The following general policies apply to all areas of the collections.
	a. 	The society encourages maximum public access to its collections by making loans which are consistent with the long-term conservation and preservation of the collections and with the needs of the society for exhibit and research purposes.
	b. 	Loans from the collections shall be made for educational and scholarly purposes consistent with the mission of the society.
	c. 	Collections shall not be loaned to individuals except for natural history specimens lacking provenance which may be loaned to individuals for educational purposes with the approval of the curator of natural history and the bureau chief of the museum. All applications for use of natural history specimens may be directed to the Curator of Natural History, State Historical Society of Iowa, Capitol Complex, Des Moines, Iowa 50319, (515)281-5627.
	d. 	All loans shall be for a specified period of time and shall be documented and monitored by the appropriate staff person approving the loan.
	13.8(2) Specific policies.
	a. 	Interlibrary loans shall provide access to the collections through cooperating libraries.
	b. 	Requests for interlibrary loan shall be submitted on the standard American Library Association Interlibrary Loan Form and in accordance with the American Library Association’s Interlibrary Loan Code. The requests shall be honored unless the loan is inappropriate due to legal or curatorial considerations or the materials can be readily obtained elsewhere. Requests for interlibrary loan shall be directed to the Reference Librarian, State Historical Society of Iowa, Centennial Building, 402 Iowa Avenue, Iowa City, Iowa 52240, (319)335-3916 or Reference Librarian, Library and Archives, State Historical Society of Iowa, Capitol Complex, Des Moines, Iowa 50319, (515)281-6200.
	c. 	Original manuscripts, maps, photographs, state archives records and rare books shall not be loaned for research purposes.
	d. 	The society shall make every effort consistent with professional standards and ethics and within their financial resources to provide a microform or other copy of rare, unique, and heavily used library and archives materials for loan purposes.
	e. 	The loan of artifacts from the museum collections shall be approved and managed by the museum. All applications shall be in writing and include a current facilities report from the borrowing institution. Applications for loan and questions may be directed to the Chief Curator, State Historical Society of Iowa, Capitol Complex, Des Moines, Iowa 50319, (515)281-5111.
	f. 	Only those artifacts in stable, presentable condition shall be considered for loan unless conservation treatment for the object is a condition of the loan agreement.
	g. 	All artifact loans shall be approved by the appropriate curator, chief curator, conservator, and the bureau chief.
	h. 	The loan of artifacts to the society shall be accepted and managed by the museum. All questions related to loans may be directed to the Chief Curator, State Historical Society of Iowa, Capitol Complex, Des Moines, Iowa 50319, (515)281-5111.
	i. 	Loans shall be accepted only to meet the society’s objectives for exhibition or research. The society shall not provide free storage, conservation treatment, or validate private collections.
	j. 	All loans to the society shall receive the highest standard of professional care.
	k. 	Unclaimed loans left in the care of the society shall be handled in accordance with Iowa Code chapter 305B.
223—13.9(303) Access and disclosure. The collections of the society shall be available for public study in accordance with 223—22.2(303).
These rules are intended to implement Iowa Code sections 303.1A, 303.2 and 303.4 to 303.18.
[Filed 7/2/75]
[Filed 7/15/75]
[Filed 9/14/76, Notice 6/14/76—published 10/6/76, effective 11/10/76]
[Filed emergency 8/15/80—published 9/3/80, effective 9/1/80]
[Filed 5/12/89, Notice 1/11/89—published 5/31/89, effective 7/5/89]
[Filed 6/21/91, Notice 3/20/91—published 7/10/91, effective 8/14/91]
[Filed emergency 12/2/93—published 12/22/93, effective 12/2/93]
[Filed 1/27/94, Notice 12/22/93—published 2/16/94, effective 3/23/94]