Collection management policy and procedures for the Sacramento Valley Museum

Project (M.A., History (Public History)) -- California State University, Sacramento, 2011.The Sacramento Valley Museum is the only manuscript repository available to researchers in Colusa County. The collection is vast and informative; however, it lacks the structure necessary to be utilized to its full potential. Citizens of the county founded the museum in 1963 to operate a facility for the display of objects of historic interest for educational and entertainment purposes. Since that time, lack of resources, staff, and time has allowed the collection to grow indiscriminately and to the point that there is no discernable organization. Lack of organization has led to limited access to the exhibits and no access to the stored collections. Additionally, lack of structure has led to deterioration of the documents, photographs, objects, bound volumes, and textiles that the museum is responsible for caring for. Each year these problems go unaddressed they become worse, to the point that the museum is struggling to operate at the basic level. The Museum lacks professional policies and procedures that all staff and volunteers can use to regain control of the collection and make it available to the public. This project utilizes Sacramento Valley Museum records, journal articles and publications on collections management best practices and local history, sample collections management policies and procedures to trace the history of the practices of the Sacramento Valley Museum and to streamline future processing and handling of the collections. With comprehensive collections management policies and procedures, researchers and community members alike can utilize the Sacramento Valley Museum???s collection as a rich, diverse resource to discover and document the region???s past and connect it to the present.History (Public History