Managing the Collection
The day to day management, conservation and care of all of the objects/materials and artefacts in the Collection is lead by the relevant team within the railway.
Organisation and management of the Collection requires policies, procedures and records management systems to be in place. These must be relevant, up to date, take account of best practice guidance (SPECTRUM - produced by the Collections Trust) and have been approved through the Trust’s governance systems and be implemented across the railway.
Records management by the Archive ensures accurate information is stored for future reference. The key aspects of managing the Collection are:
New Donations
The NYMRT will consider offers of new donations which are relevant to the Collection (see attached list for advice on what is or is not relevant to the Archival Collection of objects and materials). The first step for anyone considering donating any items is the completion of our Initial Enquiry Form and submitting this to the Archive either by email to [email protected] or in writing for the attention of the Archive c/o 12 Park Street, Pickering. This enables the Archive team to assess the offer and further information may be requested. Depending upon the particular item(s) being offered, any recurrent costs, care and conservation issues will require consideration.
If the donation is to be accepted, forms for acceptance of the object and transfer of title forms will need to be completed by the donor in conjunction with the Archive. This is to ensure that the Archive has clear records about the item(s) being donated as well as a record that the title (i.e. the ownership) has been transferred from the donor to the NYMRT.
If any items are left without prior agreement, the NYMRT reserves the right to dispose of the items as it sees fit.
Acceptance of objects and materials into the Collection
Once agreement has been reached to accept an object/materials and all the relevant paperwork has been completed, the object will then be formally “accessioned” into the Collection, i.e. it will be given a unique object number in the museum records system, where full details about the item will be recorded for future reference. In addition, every object will be allocated a “location” where it is normally kept. In the case of Archival materials, the location is likely to be within the Archive store but for other items, such as Station artefacts, this will be its geographical location on the NYMR.
Clear records about objects, including their location, are vital for future checking and retrieval, for example, for research purposes. The Archive keeps copies of the paperwork, some of which is digital-only, for future reference.
Disposal of objects from the Collection
Historically, the NYMRT has accumulated a range of objects and materials from many locations across Great Britain: as more Collections have emerged associated with heritage railways and railway related societies, each with their own Collections focused on their area, the Trust Board took the decision to re-focus the NYMRT Collection, to be broadly based on the former North Eastern Railway area. Over the last few years, objects and materials which are not relevant to the Collection have gradually been identified and continue to be disposed of to the most relevant organisation.
Whilst the term “disposal” is used for items not relevant to the Collection, a very clear and carefully considered procedure underpins how this is undertaken.
Prior to any action being taken to remove an item from the Collection, the relevant Governance procedures must be followed in line with the Disposal Procedure. Once objects/materials are identified, the relevant head of that element of