Taking Stock, Effective Collections, Esmée Fairbairn and the natural science collections at Doncaster Museum

This paper will present a summary of Doncaster Museum Service’s holistic collections review and rationalisation process named Taking Stock. A brief background to the museum service and history of the development of the collections will be given to provide context. The internally developed review methodology will be discussed before concentrating on the externally resourced and integrated reviews which took place as part of an Effective Collections project and an Esmée Fairbairn Museum and Heritage strand scheme. A more in depth synopsis of the CIRCA (Catalogued, Interpreted, Researched, Conserved, Accessible) project methodology will be provided, in order to demonstrate the review strategy used for the appraisal of the palaeontology collection. It will also demonstrate how, due to the wider aims of CIRCA project, the methodological approach developed to include a specimen level review in contrast to the Effective Collections reviews which were at collection level only. Furthermore it will serve to demonstrate the route and results of a methodology developed by an externally contracted specialist within the robust strategic framework of a full and over arching collections review process. De-accessioning and disposals are discussed throughout the paper.