Presentation by Alex Dawson looking at the legal status of ownership of Collections and the implications of different forms of governance model.

1. Who owns your collections?
Alex Dawson
Collections Trust

2. The journey – where I started
• Last two months working on a new publication for the
Collections Trust
• Collections and Governance:
a practical guide
-Different types of governance model, including
Charitable Trusts
- The effect of different models on the ownership,
acquisition & stewardship of collections
- How to approach the transition to a new
governance model with confidence
- Identifying and exploiting new income
streams from your collections

3. The journey – where I started
• This presentation – opportunity to discuss my findings (so far)
with you
• Where I started………
- as a curator and advisor
- who had accepted 100s (1,000s?) of objects into
collections of many different types, and into 4 museums
with very different governance structures
- believed I was conferring a certain status onto the object
as a result of accessioning it into the collection – a
permanent status connected to governance? Acts of
Parliament? Trust Deeds?

4. The journey – where I started
“in perpetuity” “in trust” “for the nation” and of course “strong
presumption against disposal”

5. The context
• Talking about ownership – inextricably bound up with the powers
of disposal
• Recent thinking about “freeing up” collections
- recently revised MA Ethics of Disposal
- Nick Merriman, National Gallery yesterday, role of
“financially motivated disposal”
- the “lifecycle of a museum object”

6. The context of the journey
MA Ethics of Disposal
• Pre-amble - “Collections need to evolve in response to the needs
of today’s society and to stop them becoming a burden on the
collecting institution. In certain instances disposal of objects may
be necessary.”
and digging a little deeper into the guidelines
• Under the Making the Decision to Dispose checklist…
“ensure the museum is legally able to remove the item”

7. So……
I had:
• A publication to write
• Preconceptions about the relationship between governance and
collections
• Changing context surrounding the permanence of collections
• Thanks to Adrian Babbidge, Egeria Heritage Consultancy

8. Some museum governance structures
• The charities
• The Parliamentary Trusts
• The local authority museums

9. The charities
• Mainly found in the independent sector – although
recently local authority museum services are seeking to
establish charitable trusts – eg Wakefield, Carlisle and
Worcester
• Unincorporated Associations
• Charitable Trusts
• Charitable Companies limited by guarantee

10. Topsham Museum – an Unincorporated
Association

11. Unincorporated Associations
Topsham is an Unincorporated Association:
• A group of individuals who have come together for a
purpose
• Topsham has a charitable purpose and is therefore also
registered with the Charity Commission
• Unincorporated
• Governed by a management committee who runs the
organisation on behalf of the members
• Governing document – a Constitution

12. Unincorporated Associations
BUT – the Unincorporated Association is not a legal body
(its unincorporated), and therefore it cannot:
• Start a legal action
• Employ people
• Borrow money
• Enter into contracts in its own name

13. Unincorporated Associations – the collections
• At Topsham the collections are the property of “holding
Trustees”

14. The Charitable Trust
The characteristics of a charitable trust are:
• Its an unincorporated body – no separate legal identity
• Assets are held and managed by a body of trustees for
the benefit of the beneficiaries
• The trustees take full liability for all contractual and
financial responsibilities
• Governed by Board of Trustees, governing document is
a Trust Deed
• Regulated by the Charity Commission

15. The Charitable Trust – the collections
• The Trustees hold the collections on trust
• A Trust Deed – or Declaration of Trust may set up a
“special trust” status for the collections or part of the
collections

16. Charitable Company Limited by Guarantee
• Incorporated body – limited liability for trustees
• A legal entity with full financial and contractual
capabilities, and limited liability
• Managed by directors/trustees
• Restricted from non-charitable activity
• Regulated by the Charity Commission and Companies
house

17. The Parliamentary Trusts
1753 the British Museum Act
“a Museum or collection may be preserved and
maintained not only for the inspection and
entertainment of the learned and curious, but for the
general use and benefit of the public”

18. The Parliamentary Trusts
• Corporations with a legal personality
• Not regulated by the Charity Commission – “exempt”
• Funded by government not controlled by it
• Trustees acting independently from Parliament
• Disposal regulated by Act of Parliament

19. The local authorities
• 1845 the Museums Act allowed local authorities to levy
a rate to finance local museums
• A Local Council is a body corporate with a legal
personality with perpetual succession and a name.

20. To summarise…….the organisations
• Unincorporated Associations
Charities • Charitable Trusts
Exempt • Parliamentary trusts
charities • University museums
Corporate • Local authority museums
• Local authority museum services
bodies • Charitable Companies limited by guarantee

21. To summarise….the collections
Different types of property in different types of governance
structure:
• Property of “holding trustees”
• “Corporate” property
• Idea of “special trusts”

22. Who owns our collections?
Museums own collections
The collections they own can be divided into two types of
“property”

23. “Special Trusts”
• Can exist in charitable companies, unincorporated associations,
charitable trusts, local authority museums, nationals
• If they are also charitable they are perpetual
• Can be created on acquisition – by agreement with the donor
• Can be created by a Trust Deed
• Can be created under an Act of Parliament
• Can be acquired along with other collections

24. “Special Trusts” and “Everything Else”

25. “Last man standing” – Wedgwood Museum

26. The journey – where I ended up
• Most collections fall outside the “special trust” status which
means there is no legal bar to their disposal
• The “in trust” status that puts a legal hold on disposal is actually
quite unusual
• The governance structure is important for the collections but it is
not the primary mechanism for ensuring that collections are kept
together
• The governance structure particularly the charitable structure is
more important for allowing independence and freedom to
generate income

27. So what does hold collections together?
• Ethical codes and standards
• Good curatorial practice
– Knowing the status of your collections
– Good organisational policies, processes and record
keeping
• The community that cares about them

28. What about the implications for curatorial
practice?
• Clarity about the status of collections
• The dialogue we have with donors and users of our
collections

29. Case Studies please!!
• A Charitable Company limited by guarantee
• An example of a “special trust” particularly one held as
part of a larger collection
alex@collectionstrust.org.uk
01600 780275