The newsletter started as a paper of the international museum network for collecting issues (April 2008) called CollectingNet. In October 2010 it became the official voice of COMCOL. As COMCOL Newsletter the digital version is distributed two (2) times a year to COMCOL members and anybody who has expressed his/her interest. All newsletters are available on the website.

The Newsletter editorial team exists of:

Erin Caswell
Catherine Marshall
Florencia Croizet
Els Veraverbeke

Interested in being part of the editorial team? please email erin.caswell@gmail.com

Sharing Collections

Co-chaired: Helene Vollgraaff & Claudia Porto –  comcol.secretary@gmail.com

Museums are about relationships: Relationships between museums and their communities and between museums. Sharing of information, joint programs and participative community curation are not new ideas. In the COMCOL Newsletter 15, October 2011, Minna Sarantola-Weiss, wrote about the Finish project TAKO, consisting of approximately 60 museums that collaborate regarding collecting and documenting. In the same COMCOL Newsletter, Mille Gabriel wrote about the importance of museums to work with source communities to interpret and document collections. Current technology allows museums to digital access, communities to contribute to knowledge about collections. How are we dealing with ownership of collections and information and equal access to collections? Through collecting, museums remove objects from their environment and thereby change their function and meaning. This is not news either. What models have been developed to manage the sharing of objects between museums and the community with the objects remaining in the possession of the community member?  Is that compatible with museum practice? And how can we enhance online and offline engagement between communities and museums’ collections in order to foster creativity, a stronger sense of identity/empowerment and even the local economy?

The workgroup intends to focus on three areas:

·   New collecting methods in case of collections shared with communities;

·  Collections shared and co-curated by museums through digital access; and

·  Dealing with shared heritage between countries where objects form part of more than one country’s heritage.

Are you interested in becoming part of the discussion? Can you refer us to case studies? Please contact us at – comcol.secretary@gmail.com

Contemporary collecting