Accession of Specimens

Statement of Purpose

These links and documents contain information about best practices for accessioning specimens into natural history collections. Accessioning is the legal acquisition of specimens and differs from cataloging and, although it is sometimes used synonymously in some disciplines, should not be confused. The language below is taken directly from the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute acquisition policy which is also linked below in its entirety.

Introduction

An institution typically acquires specimens for its collections by field collection, exchange, gift, purchase, bequest, contract, abandonment, or other appropriate means. The institution is responsible for maintaining and conserving the specimens in collections in perpetuity as a public trust. For this reason, the institution accepts and acquires only those specimens for which it can provide proper care, conservation, and storage. Individual staff members and students act as agents for the institute when collecting specimens, but individuals do not own the specimens that they collect. Decisions concerning which specimens to accept for the collections are made by the appropriate institutional authority (administration, curator-in-charge, collection manager). Each division is responsible for the direction of growth of its collections. In general, collection acquisition is focused by research and tailored to resources. All specimens accessioned and cataloged by the institution must be obtained legally. All specimens should be documented with the necessary permits and licenses, and/or other documentation to show that they have been collected, and/or imported in full compliance with applicable laws and regulations. The institution may accept specimens that have been confiscated by government authorities. The institute adheres to the CITES convention and follows appropriate USFWS regulations.

Title to all objects acquired for the collections should be obtained free and clear, without restrictions on use, exhibition, loan, dispersal, or future disposition. All specimens obtained by exchange, donation, or purchase are documented by an invoice (the Accession Checklist) that documents that the specimens have (as far as can be determined) been legally obtained. The Accession Checklist is signed by a member of the curatorial staff (usually the collections manager) and a copy is kept on file as part of the permanent records of the appropriate division. The institution cannot and will not guarantee that donated specimens will be placed on long-term or permanent exhibition, that they will be exhibited or housed intact as a single collection, or that they will not be deaccessioned.

If a specimen of unknown origin or uncertain status is acquired by the institution, the specimen may be temporarily held for safekeeping. The appropriate state or federal authorities should be notified at once. The specimen is not to be accessioned and cataloged into the collection until after the authorizing documentation has been obtained from the government authorities.

The legal process of acquiring these specimens is through an accession or by means of repository agreements. In an accession, ownership of a collection is transferred to the institution. Under the terms of a repository agreement, the institution takes custody of a collection and provides curatorial services for the collection in accordance with a written agreement with another entity.

The word accession is defined in legal terms as: “a. The addition to or increase in value of property by means of improvements or natural growth. b. The right of a proprietor to ownership of such addition or increase.”

An accession is a specimen or group of specimens received from a single source, usually at one time, for which the institute has custody, right, or title. Thus, 400 specimens collected on one field trip to Canada, a single fossil from the Kansas River, or all birds from Kansas obtained by salvage during the calendar year could each be treated as one accession.

Accessioning is the formal process by which a specimen or object is legally accepted and recorded as an institutional item. Accessioning includes the process of the registration of specimens or objects into the institution, including the preparation and archiving of appropriate documentation.

To accession is to record and process an addition to the permanent collection. The accession process establishes the institution’s legal claim to the specimen. It involves the creation of an immediate, brief, and permanent record, with a control number or other unique identifier, for specimens or objects added to the collection. The accession process does three things: (1) it assigns a unique accession number to a specimen or group of specimens; (2) it describes (identifies) the specimens; (3) it establishes the provenance or the history of the specimens. The institution should not accession specimens or objects until it is legally feasible and financially viable to possess them. Specimens received by the institution and held pending an accession decision are not considered institution property.

An accession number is assigned to each specimen or group of specimens as part of the accession process. This number is used to relate all documentation and other records to that accession. The accession number also is included in the catalog entry for each specimen in the accession. All correspondence relating to an accession must be identified by the accession number. The accession numbers used by the KU Biodiversity Institute are unique, compound, sequential numbers (e.g., 2009-HR-001) where 2009 is the year of accession, HR is the unique two-digit acronym for the collection (in this case herpetology) and 001 is a sequentially incrementing number across the Institute. Accession numbers are assigned by the institute director or the director’s designee. In some institutions, a designated registrar fulfills this role.

The accession record contains the essential information describing the transactions through which the institute acquires specimens. An accession record consists of archival documents (e.g., the accession form, permits, letters, Deed of Transfer form, and other appropriate documentation maintained by the collections manager of each division, and the accession database maintained by the institution administration). The accession record is part of the permanent documentation of the institute.

Specimens may not be cataloged until they have been accessioned (assigned an accession number by the administration). Catalog numbers may not be “reserved” for unaccessioned specimens, as reserving a catalog number constitutes the first step in cataloging a specimen.

Specimens received on loan or under a repository agreement may not be accessioned. A loan is defined as specimens or objects that have been loaned to the institute by the owner. The institution is responsible for the care and return of specimens or objects on loan, but cannot take possession of them unless the lender provides the documentation necessary to convert the loan to a gift, purchase, exchange, etc. Specimens received as part of a repository agreement are not accessioned (because ownership is not transferred), but may be cataloged.

All accessions of specimens of wildlife originating both inside and outside the US are subject to the limitations of the Lacey Act. Under the terms of the Lacey Act, the term wildlife includes arthropods and all other invertebrates, as well as vertebrates. All institution specimens may be subject to one or more laws or regulations at the state, national or international levels.

Deaccessioning is the process of permanently removing accessioned materials from the collections.

A specimen is a whole plant or animal or any part of a plant or animal, including all genetic material and fossils.

A repository agreement is a written contract that transfers specimens to the institution, allows the institution to provide curatorial services for the specimens and to use the specimens for research purposes, but does not transfer ownership of the specimens to the institution. The repository agreement establishes the time period for the deposit of the specimens, describes standards of collection care and management, and specifies what rights and privileges (which may include compensation) the institute will receive for the services it provides. A number of international countries are now requiring repository agreements for collecting while other entities like the National Park Service also enter into such agreements with repository institutions. Repository agreements may be multi-year agreements that encompass multiple independent acquisition events by the same collector under the same permitting structures.

Contributors

Andrew Bentley, Ichthyology Collection Manager, KU Biodiversity Institute, Lawrence, KS, USA