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VISION
To communicate the rich cultural legacy of South Africa to all people as a source of understanding and inspiration.
MISSION
The National Cultural History Museum strives to be a leader in the development and management of the cultural heritage of all South Africans by preserving and communicating it through collections and services according to international principles and standards, so that all may share, enjoy and participate in the heritage.
AIMS:
1. Research:
2. Collections management:
3. Communication:
4. Administration:
5. Services:
In addition, the application of the policy is governed by the following statement of intent
The National Cultural History Museum accepts the responsibility to keep the cultural heritage of South Africa in trust, to care for it, research it, and to communicate it, based on the following values and norms.
Herewith we strive to make a real contribution to reconciliation and nation building.
The policy of the museum is also governed by the Act(s) under which it functions, particularly the Cultural Institutions Act (Act 66 of 1989), Amendment Act (Act 33 of 1992) and the regulations and personnel administration measures which form part of the act.
Since the museum forms part of both the international and the South African museum community, its policy must also comply with both the Codes of Ethics of the International Council of Museums and the South African Museums Association.
Governance
In terms of the Act, the NFI museums are governed by a CEO and a Board of Trustees who are responsible to the Minister of Arts and Culture. The powers, functions and responsibilities of the Board are spelt out in the Act
Management and Planning
The National Cultural History Museum is managed by a manager, deputy manager and a management committee, answerable to the CEO of the Northern Flagship Institution.
The management committee of the consists of the heads of the departments of:
Funds generation
In accordance with government policy, the museum attempts to generate funds as far as is possible. This should not be to the detriment of the normal functions of the museum. This is achieved through charging entrance fees, renting of venues for conferences, functions and temporary exhibitions, running a museum shop, partnerships with the private sector and selling of services and expertise.
Communications Policy
Communication is one of the main aims of the museum. Its policy is:
to make the Museum's collections, services, facilities and expertise available, accessible and understandable through its public programmes to utilise the museum's assets and resources in a sustainable manner for tourism to promote a climate of heritage preservation, appreciation and support in South Africa to empower the public to take care of their own heritage
In order to achieve this it will make use of all possible means such as exhibitions, educational activities, conferences, publications, public relations programmes, active marketing, Internet, etc.
Exhibitions Policy
The museum's exhibition policy is to use its exhibitions to:
reflect its vision, mission and aims provide exhibitions for all its audiences, nationally and internationally give insights into South Africa's history and culture, and its relevance to all South Africans encourage and facilitate community participation in the development and deployment of exhibitions provide a level of interpretation which reflects the museum's national status provide exhibitions of the highest standard and at the cutting edge of exhibition design and technology appropriate to a national museum produce exhibitions which make the national historical collection and the distributed national collection accessible to all.
Education Policy
The museum's education policy is to:
reflect the museum's vision, mission and aims in the delivery of programs and services for all the museum's users encourage and facilitate community participation in the development and deployment of programs, and meet community needs and interests through an integrated range of information activities, services and products delivered on and off-site provide information, services and products of the highest educational standard, and relevant to the museums context, which are enjoyable and accessible provide an education and training resource for the education community and museum professionals from South Africa and Africa Utilise all means at its disposal to disseminate information.
Publication policy
The museums publications policy is to develop a publications programme which will support the museums communications, exhibitions, education and research policies. The museum will use all forms of technology to produce publications in the most cost effective manner. Publications will:
reflect the museums vision, mission and aims promote awareness, enjoyment and understanding contribute to the provision of broad based public access programs for all contribute to the national and international standing of the museum as a centre for research, scholarship and education promote the professional standing of its personnel strike an appropriate balance between scholarly publications, popular publications, commercial products and free publications.
Collections Management Policy
This is one of the aims of the museum which flows directly out of the vision and mission. The museums broad collections management policy is to:
to preserve and maintain the museum's collections, buildings and sites to develop and maintain a system of managing information about the museum's tangible and intangible collections to assist in the identification, recording, preservation and development of heritage throughout South Africa.
To this end the museum works according to the following policies:
Collecting Policy
The museum collects information on the cultural heritage of South Africa. This information may be contained in:
Movable objects representing material culture (current, historic or prehistoric) Immovable objects representing material culture such as buildings, structures and sites Images and documentation representing material culture Documents (primary and interpretative) Recordings of oral history (audio and audiovisual) Transcripts of oral history Recording of living culture (amasiko) (audio and audiovisual) Transcripts of living culture Living plants and animals representing early domesticated species and aimed at maintaining gene pools for these species
In achieving this collecting the museum may both acquire and run specialist satellite museums and apply the principle of `the museum without walls.
Information may be collected and stored in either physical or digital format.
Loans
Incoming
The museum accepts no loans other than those required for its exhibition programmes. Under no circumstances will the museum accept items on 'permanent loan', 'lease loan' or any other condition merely to hold them in the collection. Incoming loans are treated in the same way as the museums own objects and are accepted in terms of the loaning institutions policy.
Outgoing
In terms of its national status, the museum will make objects available for loan either for research or display purposes. The latter includes travelling exhibitions. The following policies apply:
Requests for loans must be made in writing to the Director at least two months in advance and state clearly who the borrower is, the purpose of the loan, the period of the loan and what items are required.
Loans will normally be made only to institutions, and then only to institutions approved jointly by the Researchers, Conservation and Documentation Services in terms of care, legal standing, climate control and security.
Loans may be made to individuals in very exceptional circumstances. In such cases approval by the Board must also be given.
Loans will be made for research, exhibition, education, 'props' in movies, plays etc. and for travelling exhibitions.
Where the loan period is greater than 1 year the loan is subject to an annual check (normally by inspection at borrower's premises, but by correspondence under certain conditions). Costs of these inspections must be born by the borrower. Costs will include the salary of the inspector, the travel and accommodation costs.
Items which may be borrowed:
The museum reserves the right not to loan certain items. This is subject to restrictions determined jointly by the Researchers, Conservation and Documentation Services due to their nature - rarity, state of conservation, availability, type status, sensitivity as sacred material, etc. are taken into account. No dangerous ammunition will be loaned. Weapons may be loaned only in exceptional circumstances. Each case will be considered on merit
'Shopping lists' of items required simply to 'flesh out' the borrower's own collections are totally unacceptable. Borrowers must enumerate specifically what items are required for what purpose. Exhibition plans, research proposals, etc. must be included
The interests of the museum will be considered before the loan of any item is approved
Loan of items is subject to restrictions imposed as conditions of gift, bequest and legal restrictions
Items on loan to the museum will not be loaned out.
Conservation
The museums first priority is to preserve the material collections in its possession. To this end the museum adopts a policy of preventative (passive) conservation in the first instance. Active (remedial or interventive) conservation will only be employed where the existence of the collection is threatened or where the object is required for a specific purpose, such as exhibition or display.
In instances where it is impossible to preserve the physical object itself (building scheduled for demolition, transitory event, etc.), the museum should preserve information concerning the object using all the technologies at its disposal.
Secret / Sacred material
Any secret or sacred material in the collections should be treated with the same respect that would be afforded it by the traditional owners of the material. All beliefs concerning its use, observation, etc. should be respected. Material of this type may only be exhibited after proper consultation with those who hold it sacred.
Utilisation of collections
Loans - see above Exhibition - see Conservation, Secret/ Sacred material
Access
The set procedures for access to the collections must be adhered to.
These include that two staff members of the museum must be present when storerooms are entered. The same staff members must request, sign for and return the keys of the storeroom.
Replicas
Except in exceptional circumstances, only replicas may be used for demonstration purposes. Only if items are so unique or fragile that any exposure on exhibition would be detrimental, or if the museum does not have appropriate material and cannot obtain this material on loan, may the museum exhibit replicas. These should be clearly labelled as replicas.
Although replicas may be treated as expendable, they should be treated as objects in the collection for the purposes of documentation and active and passive conservation.
Reproduction, Copyright and Publication
The museum is bound by national and international law as far as copyright and reproduction rights are concerned. Where the museum is the copyright holder or the agent on behalf of the copyright holder its policy is to require that the museum be acknowledged as the holder and, where applicable, the objects should be identified by their acquisition numbers.
Where the museum grants rights for filming at any of its sites this should be in accordance with any contract the museum has concerning the use of those properties. The museum also does not in any way waive its right to film those sites for its own purposes.
Information Policy
A museum object is the sum of itself and the information about it. The importance of information in the museum is seen by the emphasis placed on communication in the museums aims. This is also emphasised in the collections management aim. The museums policy is to develop and maintain a system of managing information about the Museum's collections (objects, documents, audio-visual material, buildings and sites, etc.) and which will allow it to manage its collections in an efficient manner. In addition the system should facilitate the dissemination of information. In order to achieve this the museum will employ all current and emerging technologies to improve its ability capture, order and disseminate information.
Documentation Policy
The museums policy is to establish and maintain a documentation system which will allow the museum to manage, track and audit its collections. The system must also ensure that the museum gains ownership of its collections and keeps track of the utilisation of objects.
Library Policy
The museum maintains a specialist library, the contents of which reflect its themes. The librarys prime function is to offer a bibliographic support service to its own staff with regard to these themes. It will also offer this service to colleagues from other institutions and members of the public without allowing this to interfere with its prime function.
Archive Policy
This policy covers both current and archival museum records. The museums policy concerning current records is that all original official documents must be taken up into the filing system and filed centrally at the registration system. Closed files are kept in the Registration Section for 3 years before being transferred to the Museum Archive. Files may be consulted and borrowed by staff if cleared and noted by the Registration Clerk. External requests for use of current records must be cleared by the CEO or the relevant official with delegated authority. The Registration Clerk (Administration Department) handles the filing system. An advisory Archive Committee approves all new filing numbers and is responsible for drawing up policies and procedures.
Some records are not kept permanently. The Museum Board approves the guidelines for discarding of records.
The museum archive contains the following:
Mediathique Policy
The mediathique collects in a central repository, orders and makes available photographic material produced by the museum during the course of its activities. Because of personnel restrictions this policy has not been fully applied and photographic material related to research has remained in the research department.
Deaccessioning Policy
The museum will only consider deaccessioning and alienation in the following instances:
Only the Board of the Northern Flagship Institution has the power to authorise the deaccessioning of objects according to the Act.
Disposal of deaccessioned objects must comply with the following:
Research Policy
The importance of research to the museum flows directly out of its vision and mission and is narrowly associated with its collecting policy. The broad research policy of the museum can be summarised as follows:
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