Acquisition
Policy for the Herbarium in the Botany Department
of the California Academy of Sciences
A. Priorities for Acquisition
1. First priority: to strengthen collection areas in which a department
has a current specialization and recognized holdings and historical interest.
This includes materials of direct use in present or projected research
or in current educational or exhibition programs; materials of high quality
needed to fill gaps or supplement specimens of lesser quality in the current
holdings; and materials from biotas, geologic strata, and cultures where
technological changes of habitat modification by man or nature place a
time limit on the period in which sampling can take place.
2. Second
priority: to broaden the comparative base of our established collection
areas. This includes archival materials such as voucher specimens for
published research, synoptical materials from specialists, and materials
which will strengthen a collection area adjacent to a previously established
one.
3. Third
priority: to obtain collections of general nature which are within the
broad interest of the Academy. This includes interesting or unique but
inadequately documented specimens that are of limited use in a scientific
sense by may be used for exhibit or other educational purposes.
B. Mode
of Acquisition
1. The Academy will acquire specimens primarily through field collection,
but also by gift, bequest, exchange, and purchase, for the purposed of
preservation, research, teaching, and exhibition.
a. The
Academy will provide for storage, protection, and preservation of objects
under conditions that insure their availability and in keeping with
professional accepted standards.
b. It is
intended that the objects shall remain in the collections as long as
they retain their physical integrity, their authenticity, and their
relevance for the purposed of the Academy.
2. The Academy
normally will not acquire items for sale but may acquire for exchange.
a. If gift/bequest
collections, or parts of collections, are acquired with the intent of
disposal of a portion by exchange, outright gift, or other means, the
donor or heirs will be so informed.
b. If gift/bequest
collections or parts of collections, are acquired for use by one of
the educational units of the Academy the donor will be so informed.
3. It is
recognized that acquisition of materials often must be opportunistic.
From time to time, collections of recognized national or international
significance become available, either from individuals or institutions
that no longer are able or willing to preserve, maintain, and use them
in research and educational activities. Acceptance of responsibility for
such collections may involve establishing a new interest area for the
Academy. Acquisition and accessioning of such collections must be judged
on their individual merits, carefully weighing the values and costs of
such acquisitions against the evolving programs and emphases of the Academy.
C. Laws
Concerning Specimen Acquisition
Specimens will be acquired by the Academy only when they have been obtained
in full compliance with the law and regulations of the countries of origin,
of the federal government of the United States, and of the individual
states within the United States. The staff will not knowingly support
illegal trade by authenticating or expressing opinions concerning material,
and will discourage the collection or exhibition of such materials. Every
reasonable effort must be made to insure that these conditions be met,
that titles of the specimen or specimens may properly be transferred to
the Academy, and that the Academy keeps up to date on the changing laws
and regulations concerning permits, specimen collecting, ownership, and
movement across political boundaries.
D. Ethics
of Specimen Acquisition
Specimens shall be accepted that have been collected in such a way as
to preserve their scientific value, e.g., biological materials with adequate
documentation or archaeological and geological objects taken with proper
recording of site and stratigraphic data. Collections that involve unnecessary
destruction of sites, or decimation of populations having limited numbers
of tenuous existence shall now knowingly be made by staff members or accepted
by the Academy from others. In all actions, the Academy and its staff
must act as responsible conservationists and scientists aiming to preserve
and guard the living cultural heritage of the earth.
E. Conditions
of Acceptance
1. Minimum requirements of documentation vary in the several scientific
departments. Such standards are necessary prerequisites for specimens
to be added to the collections.
2. Specimens
with inadequate date, but having scientific or other value, may be accepted
at the discretion of the department chairman.
3. Undocumented
specimens that are good examples of their type may be acquired for use
in exhibition and educational programs.
4. All acquisitions
must conform to the following conditions.
a. Approval
of the department chairman.
b. The
legal and ethical stipulations set forth in Sections C and D above.
c. The
material must be the legal property of the donor/institution/dealer
making the offer, or he/she/it must have legal authority to dispose
of said material.
5. The Academy
cannot accept specimens on which restrictions are placed with would prevent
effective research use, normal exhibition use, loan, or disposal. The
Academy will not normally accept specimens on conditions which would require
that they be placed on exhibition, or that the collections of which they
form a part should be kept together permanently and/or displayed only
as a discrete collection. Permission to deviate from this procedure must
receive approval of the Executive Director.
F.
Evaluation of Acquisitions and Other Materials
No person acting as an employee of the Academy shall give appraisals for
any purpose, including establishing the tax-deductible value of gifts
offered to the Academy, nor shall he or she identify or otherwise authenticate
for persons or agencies specimens under circumstances that could encourage
or benefit illegal, unethical, or irresponsible traffic in such materials,
or when there is reason to believe such identifications will be used primarily
for commercial purposes. Identification and authentication (but not appraisals)
may be given for scientific or educational purposes or in compliance with
the legitimate requests of government bodies or their agents.
Use Policy~Loan
Policy~Destructive Sampling Policy
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