Beyond repair – deaccession and the management of plastics

Abstract

The deaccession (removal) of items from a collection involves assessment of an item's significance or value to that collection. Conservators aid this curatorial decision-making process by providing expert advice on the item's condition. Six case studies involving the ‘gross deterioration' of plastics were examined from Museums Victoria's deaccession record, for information that illuminates how an object's material condition affects its perceived significance. A further eight case studies included commentary on the condition of plastic components, even if condition was not a contributing factor to the argument for deaccession. In determining resource allocations for managing plastics in collections, these case studies suggest it may be useful to prioritise preventive interventions for objects made entirely or substantially from at-risk plastics such as cellulose acetate, polyurethane, or rubber; objects that are stand-alone examples of their kind; and objects intended as ‘single use'. Further, for social history collections, deterioration such as yellowing, surface abrasion and hardening may not make a critical difference to an object's value. Change that significantly alters an object’s original shape, such as crumbling or severe distortion, is more likely to result in deaccession.

Keywords:

• Deaccession
• Plastic
• Significance
• Social history collections
• Value

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Correction

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to my colleagues who read and commented on this paper and whose deaccession documentation forms the basis of this research – in particular, Maryanne McCubbin, Fiona Kinsey and Karina Palmer. Thanks also to the Bulletin reviewers, whose comments and feedback improved on the original submission.

This research was supported by the Australian Research Council Linkage Projects Scheme under Grant LP160100160.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article was originally published with errors, which have now been corrected in the online version. Please see Correction (http://doi.org/10.1080/10344233.2024.2333616)

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alice Cannon

Alice Cannon is the Manager of History and technology collections at Museums Victoria. She trained as a conservator in the early 1990s and has worked in a number of organisations as a paper, photographic materials and/or preventive conservator, and more recently managed Museums Victoria’s collection risk management program. Her Master of Arts by Research investigated late nineteenth and early twentieth-century adhesives for paper substrates.