CATHEDRAL INVENTORIES: Their Purpose, Scope and Compilation

Transcription

1 THE CATHEDRALS FABRIC COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND PROCEDURAL GUIDE 6 CATHEDRAL INVENTORIES: Their Purpose, Scope and Compilation Issued by the Commission May 2001

2 Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England PROCEDURAL GUIDE 6 Issued by the Commission May 2001 CATHEDRAL INVENTORIES: their Purpose, Scope and Compilation 1 The Legal Requirements 1.1 Under section 13 of the Care of Cathedrals Measure 1990, 1 the administrative body or Chapter of a cathedral has a duty to compile and maintain an Inventory of all objects in the possession of the Chapter that the Fabric Advisory Committee (FAC) considers to be of architectural, archaeological, artistic or historic interest. 1.2 The Fabric Advisory Committee has a duty not only to indicate which objects shall be included in the Inventory, but also to designate those objects which it considers, after consultation with the Cathedrals Fabric Commission (CFCE), to be of outstanding architectural, archaeological, artistic or historic interest. 1.3 The Inventory was required to be completed within five years. 1.4 Under rule 17 of the Care of Cathedrals Rules 1990 the form of the Inventory is required to be in accordance with any general or special directions given by the Cathedrals Fabric Commission and notified in writing to the administrative body. 1.5 The Commission has issued the following general and special directions under rule 17: - Directions for the Form of the Inventory of a Cathedral Church (1992); - Special Directions for Printed Books and Manuscript Books (1993); - Special Directions for Archival Materials (1993). Copies of these were sent to all cathedrals when they were issued and have subsequently been consolidated into a single document (2001). 1 See Procedural Guide 1, The Care of Cathedrals Measure: a General Introduction (2000).

3 2 Advice Issued by the Commission 2.1 Whereas the Directions issued by the Commission have legal authority, they only cover matters relating directly to the form in which the Inventory is compiled and maintained: they do not cover the scope and contents of the Inventory. To supplement the Directions, however, the Commission has also issued advice on the purpose and scope of the Inventory, as well as on procedural matters for its compilation and maintenance. 2.2 The advice issued by the Commission is contained in the following documents: - Advisory Guidelines Supplemental to the Directions for the Form of the Inventory of a Cathedral Church (1992); - Advisory Guidelines Printed Books and Manuscript Books (1993); - Advisory Guidelines Archival Materials (1993) These have subsequently been consolidated into a single document (2001). 2.3 The Commission has issued a guidance note entitled Cathedral Inventories: Designation of Outstanding Items (1996), which discusses criteria that will help in evaluating what items are of outstanding interest. 2.4 A section on what makes an organ historic is included in another guidance note, Cathedral Organs and the Care of Cathedrals Measure (1994). 2.5 The Commission has most recently issued an advisory note entitled Cathedral Inventories: Recording Worked Stones (2001). 3 The Purpose of the Inventory 3.1 The compilation of the Inventory will in the first place identify all items of architectural, archaeological, artistic or historic interest in the possession of the Chapter and, through the process of designating items of outstanding interest, will assess the importance of individual items. 3.2 The maintenance of the Inventory will record changes subsequent to the initial compilation, and will identify the interest and assess the importance of items newly acquired by the Chapter. 3.3 The Inventory, when complete and up to date, will provide a key to identifying whether any object in the possession of the Chapter requires an approval from the FAC or the CFCE in the event of its proposed sale, loan or disposal. 2 2 Care of Cathedrals Measure, sections 2(1)(b) and 6(1)(a)(iv).

4 3.4 The Inventory will also provide a record of fundamental importance in assisting the Chapter in relation to issues of: the security of objects; their use, care and conservation; and their display. 4 The Form of the Inventory 4.1 The Inventory must conform with the detailed Directions issued by the Commission, to which reference should be made when compiling or maintaining the Inventory. Only an outline description of the requirements is included here. 4.2 The Inventory may comprise both general volumes and volumes dedicated to specific categories. Where an existing cathedral inventory or catalogue predating the Measure contains the same information as that required for the new Inventory, the FAC may designate it as a schedule to the Inventory. 4.3 The Inventory must take the form of a securely bound volume or volumes, of permanent archival quality. This applies even where the information for inclusion in the Inventory has been compiled electronically (as undoubtedly will have been found helpful in most cases). 4.4 The accuracy and completeness of the Inventory, and subsequent additions or alterations to it, must be certificated by representatives of both the Chapter and the FAC. 4.5 A separately bound schedule must be compiled and maintained of objects designated as of outstanding interest. 4.6 A separate Inventory volume must also be compiled and maintained of objects in the possession of the Chapter as trustee or on loan In the case of any item in the Inventory being sold, loaned or disposed of, the original Inventory entry must not be struck out, but a marginal reference must be added citing the Notice giving FAC or CFCE approval for the sale, loan or disposal. Additionally a separate ledger must be maintained recording the sale, loan or other disposal of any object on the Inventory. 4.8 The Chapter, having consulted the FAC, must make appropriate provision for ensuring that the location of every item on the Inventory may be traced at any time. 4.9 Each individual item, or each collection of items forming a single entity, must be given a unique Inventory number (except items in a designated schedule, wherein individual items may retain a different system of identification). As a 3 Directions (1992), section B.3.

5 temporary measure a collection of unsorted material may be entered in the Inventory with a single number pending its detailed review Individual items must be described in the Inventory under a set of sixteen classificatory headings given in the Directions All outstanding objects must be photographed. All other objects must also be photographed, unless the FAC decides that in a particular case the photography of an object or group of objects would be unreasonable Special Directions are provided for dealing with: loose architectural, archaeological and miscellaneous objects and fragments; musical instruments; printed books and manuscript books; and archival materials. 4 5 The Scope of the Inventory 5.1 The Inventory must include all objects in the possession of the Chapter that the FAC considers to be of architectural, archaeological, artistic or historic interest. The Commission has advised that in its view this should embrace movable and removable objects, including ornaments, furnishings and fittings, books and manuscripts, displaced architectural and archaeological materials, musical instruments and other artifacts. While recognising that interpretations of what is movable or removable may vary, the Commission has suggested that it should be a long-term aim to include categories such as stained glass and monuments. 5.2 The Commission has offered a check-list of categories and types of object that may be helpful to FACs in considering what to include The Inventory should include not only objects that are located in the cathedral church, but objects in the possession of the Chapter wherever located. This will include, for example, relevant objects in the Deanery and Canons houses, or objects in gardens in the close. Objects on loan away from the cathedral but of which the ownership is retained by the Chapter should also be included. 5.4 In considering what is of outstanding interest, FACs should take account of the 1996 guidance note issued by the Commission. In this it is suggested that the following criteria should be used in defining an object of outstanding interest: - any object so significantly connected with the history and life of the cathedral or diocese, or of the Church of England more widely, that its departure from the ownership of the Chapter could be regarded as a grave misfortune; and 4 See the 1992 Directions, and the 1993 Special Directions. See also Advisory Note 3, Cathedral Inventories: Recording Worked Stones (2001). 5 Advisory Guidelines (1992), pp.15-21; 2001 edition pp

6 - any object that by reason of its architectural, archaeological, artistic or historic merit is of national significance (this being measured by whether the object would warrant inclusion in a national collection); and - any object of special significance for the study of the architecture, archaeology, art or history of the cathedral. 5.5 The Commission has also identified in the 1996 guidance note various special considerations that may be applied in considering the potentially outstanding interest of the following: collections of ex situ stonework; archaeological collections; tombs and monuments; books and manuscripts; and archival materials. 6 Procedures for Compiling and Maintaining the Inventory 6.1 The compilation and maintenance of the Inventory requires collaboration between the Chapter and the FAC. The Commission therefore has suggested that the management of the process will be facilitated by their jointly appointing an Inventory committee. 6.2 Procedural steps that may be helpful are set out in the 1992 Advisory Guidelines. Basically these are:- (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) The FAC should decide: what categories of object are to be included (if appropriate, indicating priorities between different categories); where the threshold of interest lies for inclusion in the Inventory; and whether any pre-existing inventories or catalogues are to be designated as schedules to the Inventory The draft Inventory should be prepared, with any questions being referred back to the FAC if required. The FAC on receiving the draft Inventory should consider which items may be of outstanding interest and should then consult the CFCE. Having received the CFCE s advice, the FAC should designate the outstanding interest items. The definitive version of the Inventory should be produced in accordance with the Directions. The relevant representatives of the Chapter and the FAC should certify the accuracy and completeness of the Inventory (or of the relevant volume of the Inventory if the production is a staged process).

7 6.3 The Inventory should be maintained subsequently in accordance with the Directions, ensuring that all additions and alterations are duly entered. It is recommended that the Inventory should be periodically reviewed to ensure that it is in fact up to date. 6.4 The compilation of the Inventory and its subsequent review provide an opportunity for the Chapter, with the advice of the FAC, to review provisions made for the care and security of all objects in the possession of the Chapter. They also provide the opportunity for assessing whether specialist conservation work is required for the preservation and future well-being of any object. 6.5 During the process of compiling the Inventory the interest of individual items will have been assessed. Following the completion of the Inventory the Chapter, with the advice of the FAC, may also wish to assess the overall importance of the collections held by the cathedral, in order to guide them in how best to use these collections in promoting understanding of the cathedral, its history and its continuing ministry. 6.6 During the compilation of the Inventory and for the purposes of its future maintenance and use, information technology increasingly will be of fundamental use (though this does not dispense with the need for the definitive Inventory to comply with the form required in the Directions). Attention is drawn to advice produced by the Museums Documentation Association on the application of information technology to collection management. 6 7 Identification and Security 7.1 The Commission has not given any advice on the marking of objects included in the Inventory (except in the case of stonework fragments). 7 This is a matter which Chapters and FACs may wish to consider further, taking specialist and police advice. Attention is drawn to the advice on this subject produced by the Museums Documentation Association The form required for the Inventory in the Directions preceded the specification for the object ID checklist prepared by the international Art Loss Register, but the Inventory will in fact provide more information. The Art Loss Register emphasises the vital importance of photographs in addition to other details in identifying and recovering stolen goods. 9 6 See most recently MDA Survey of Information Technology in Museums published by the MDA as an issue of their journal MDA Information, 4.1 (1999). The current (2001) address of the MDA is Jupiter House, Station Road, Cambridge, CB1 2JD (tel ). 7 Advisory Guidelines (1992), section 7.iii 8 MDA Fact Sheet, Labelling and Marking Museum Objects, published on their web site at 9 For further information contact The Art Loss Register, 12 Grosvenor Place, London SW1X 7HH (tel ).