The collection of a non-collecting institution

Abstract

This is a case study of how the Jacob Lawrence Gallery at the University of Washington, a non-collecting institution, became responsible for a collection of some 750 works of all different sizes and media that had accumulated uncataloged and uninventoried over the course of almost 100 years. Numerous decisions had to be made by many parties to address how these objects honor the school’s history and the legacy of past faculty and alumni, balance that with the objects’ conservation needs and realistic level of resources available, and make the collection available for educational use through integration into the pedagogy of the School’s courses. I will the legal hurdles of processing works with no clear provenance, copyright issues, how (as a museum professional) to uphold museum ethics and best-practices in an institution that is not first and foremost a museum and navigating the politics of multiple department interests that could be in conflict to develop a clear and comprehensive collections management policy. All of this was done with no extra financial backing, but with creative cross-campus partnerships with departments such as library science and law.