Acquisition and Disposal Policy

The purpose of this policy is to set out the principles by which the Grosvenor Museum will acquire and dispose of objects.  It is a tool to assist curatorial staff with the development of the museum's permanent collection and also outlines policy and practice in this area to other interested bodies.  It has been written with reference to the acquisition and disposal policies of other local museums and in line with both the Museums Association and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council guidelines.

This policy will be published and reviewed every five years.  The next date for review will be December 2011.  The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council will be notified of any changes to the policy and of any implications for the future of the existing collections arising from such changes.

Historical Background

The collections of the Grosvenor Museum are based on those of its two founding societies: the Architectural, Archaeological and Historic Society of Chester and the Chester Society of Natural Science, Literature and Art.  The original collections of the two societies ranged more widely than the present collections.  In particular, the geographic areas of collecting covered most of North Wales and Cheshire.  From its foundation the Grosvenor Museum has also housed antiquities belonging to Chester City Council.

After World War II the collections were rationalised and the emphasis placed mainly on collecting objects of local interest.  In 1974 the scope of the collections was further narrowed to the area served by Chester City Council.  At the same time new county museum services were established to cover Merseyside, North Wales, Shropshire and the remaining districts of Cheshire (with the exception of Warrington, which retained its own district museum).

General Principles of Acquisition and Disposal

Underlying this policy is the fundamental belief that the Grosvenor Museum should continue to acquire objects for the permanent collection in order to provide a full range of services and fulfil its responsibilities to both the residents of Chester and the wider audience of museum visitors and scholars.  Registered museums act as long-term guardians of collections which are in the public domain.  

The full Aquisitions and Disposals policy is available in PDF  format please click the lnk to open (requires acrobat reader, 112KB file size)