This policy was adopted by the Franco-American Collection Board of Directors on June 1, 2011, and explicitly replaces any and all previous policies covering acquisitions and deaccessions. The updated policy, finished in 2024, was adopted in that same year. 

Mission

The mission of the Franco-American Collection (‘The Collection’) is to preserve and promote  Franco-American culture and history.

Definition: 

For purposes of acquisition, we define the term “Franco-American” as someone who can trace their heritage to both France and the colonies of the French in what is today the Canadian Maritime provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island), Northern Maine (together known as Acadia) and the province of Québec.

Aims:

  • To maintain a collection that accurately reflects the historical culture of Maine’s Franco-American Community.
  • To fill in the gaps in the Collection by increasing the variety of current holdings.
  • To explore opportunities to acquire new materials in subject areas relevant to the study of Franco-American heritage.
  • To ensure that the Collection’s limited resources are used responsibly in order to best serve our varied communities. 

Principles:

  • The Collection’s resources (financial, spatial and human) are finite and valuable.  It is necessary for us to demonstrate accountability for the use of these resources in regards to collection development. 
  • The Collection will collect items that support the Collection’s mission, including for use in exhibits and research. 
  • Where relevant the Collection will work in partnership with appropriate organizations.
  • The Collection will deaccession collection items in a transparent and thoughtful manner, with due attention to legal & cultural sensibilities, indigenous rights, and the original terms of acquisition. See Appendix A for more information on where deaccessioned items may be redistributed.
  • Any monies received by the Franco-American Collection from the deaccession of items will be applied for the benefit of the collections. See below for more details.

Priorities (2024): 

Criteria for Collecting:

Potential acquisitions will be assessed by the following criteria:

  • Items that enhance existing collecting subject areas on Franco-American history and culture, for example: snowshoeing.
  • Items fill gaps in existing collecting subject areas that have importance to Franco-American history and culture for example: LGBTQ+ Francos.
  • If an item of rare or valuable nature that is not relevant to our collecting areas is offered to the Collection, we will liaise with other collecting institutions to find a more suitable home for the item. See Appendix A for a list of other institutions.
  • The ability of the Collection to preserve, house and display new acquisitions.
  • The state of knowledge regarding an item’s history and provenance.
  • The current condition and state of preservation of an item.

The Collection’s priorities for new artifact, manuscript and original audio/visual recordings accessions are as follows:

  1. Franco-American history and culture of Lewiston, Auburn and the surrounding areas, prioritizing communities that do not have a Franco collecting institution of their own
  2. Franco-American history and culture of Maine
  3. French-Canadian history and culture as it relates to Franco-Americans in Maine

Artifacts produced or owned by Franco-American individuals should be considered in the context of the larger Collection.  They should be accepted only if their presence in the Collection enhances our overall understanding of Franco-American culture and heritage.

The Collection’s priorities for new book, journal and edited volume, commercial video or audio recordings accessions are as follows: 

  1. Franco-American history and culture of Lewiston-Auburn
  2. Other French-speaking communities of Lewiston-Auburn as related to Franco-Americans
  3. Franco-American and French-speaking history and cultures in Maine and New England.
  4. French speakers from other US regions as they related to Franco-Americans in Maine. 
  5. French-Canadian history and culture pertaining to the connections between Franco-Americans and the histories, politics, and traditions of the provinces of Québec and Canadian Maritimes.
  6. The histories and cultures of French-Canada and other French-speaking regions of the world as they intersect with the history and culture of Franco-Americans and other French-speakers in Lewiston-Auburn.
  7.  The Collection may acquire books outside of these parameters (for example, New England or Canada focused books) to provide researchers greater context.
  8. French Canadian immigrants to the local region and local Franco-Americans still remain the central focus of the Collection, but their connections to other French-speakers are recognized. 
  9. Full book collections from the private libraries of Franco individuals will be considered. If the books are not kept, we will produce a bibliography of the titles.

Books acquired for the Collection will be entered into the University of Southern Maine library catalog, and listed as either circulating or non circulating.  Circulating books will be housed within the USM Lewiston-Auburn Campus Library stacks in order to increase visibility and create space in the collection. The following criteria will be used to determine placement of individual book titles in the circulating or non-circulating collections:

  • Rarity of the book and of the specific copy;
    • Rarity will be determined by the cumulative number of individual titles currently available through the UMaine Catalog and the statewide catalog MaineCat.
    • Titles with holdings in over 50 libraries worldwide as identified through the database WorldCat can be considered for circulation. 
    • Titles that are out of print or of limited printing will not be considered for circulation unless the collection currently holds multiple (3) copies. 
  • Number of duplicates currently within the collection 
  • Fragility of the physical item (pages, cover, spine, etc.)
  • Relevance to the collection’s mission and holdings
  • For children’s books published after 1969, please see donation information for Gorham campus Library children’s book collection. 
  • If books are annotated or signed by the author they will be kept in the non-circulating collection

Method of Acquisition:

  • The Collection will collect by free transfer, purchase, or bequest.
  • The Archivist is responsible for accepting donations of new material.  
  • Each donation should be accompanied by a signed ‘Deed of Gift’ form completed by the donor, in order to establish the Collection’s legal right to the item(s).  
  • The Archivist is responsible for accessioning items and updating the Collection’s inventory and creating a finding aid for the items.
  • Purchased collections will be considered by staff and board on an individual basis.

Acquisition Policy:

The Collection recognizes its responsibility when acquiring additions to its collections, to ensure that care of collections, arrangement and description, access and use of collections will meet the generally-agreed upon professional archival standards. Limitations on collecting imposed by such factors as inadequate staffing, storage and care of collection arrangements will be taken into account. 

The Board of Directors will be notified of any changes to the Collections Policy, and the implications of any such changes for the future of existing collections. 

The Collections Policy will be published and reviewed by the Collections Committee of the Board, in consultation with the Archivist at least once every three years.  The date when the policy is next due for review is 2027. 

The Collection will take account of the collecting policies of other archival collections and organizations in the same or related areas or subject fields.  The Collection will consult with these organizations where conflicts of interest may arise or to define unnecessary duplication and waste of resources. 

Items will be acquired wherever possible without conditions; only under exceptional circumstances will items be accepted with conditions attached.

All efforts will be made to ensure intellectual property rights are acquired along with
the item. Where this is otherwise it will be made explicit and reflected in the documentation.

Loans to the Collection are not acquisitions and will be dealt with under a separate policy. Please see the Collection’s loan policies for more information. 

The Collection will not acquire any item, particularly archaeological antiquities or archive materials in any case where the Archivist or Board has any suspicion that the circumstances of their recovery involved a failure to follow the appropriate legal procedures.

Acquisitions outside the current policy will only be made in exceptional circumstances, and then only after proper consideration by staff and board. , having regard to the interests of other archives and museums.

Criteria for Deaccession:

Deaccession of items should be conducted in a thoughtful and transparent manner.  The following criteria are to be used by the Archivist and Collections Committee in reviewing items for transfer to another archive or museum.

  • Items not relevant to the Collection’s mission of preserving Franco-American history and culture.
  • Duplicate items, replicas or other non-original materials  (after consideration of the item’s quality and state-of-repair).
  • Items of unknown provenance.
  • Items in poor condition that have consequently lost their useful purpose.
  • Items which pose health, safety or legal concerns.
  • Items which the Collection no longer has the resources (financial or otherwise) to preserve.

Deaccession Method

Once a decision to deaccession material in the Collection has been taken, priority will be given to retaining it within a publically accessible cultural heritage institution , unless it is to be destroyed due to health and safety concerns such as mold. It will therefore be offered in the first instance, by gift or sale, directly to other archival collections, museums or historical associations likely to be interested in its acquisition.  Consideration should be given to the item’s provenance and preservation requirements. For example: Items which are relevant to the history and culture of Lewiston or the State of Maine, but which are not Franco-American in nature or by direct connection, should be directed to other organizations (the Androscoggin Historical Society, Maine MILL, Maine State Museum, etc.)

If the material is not acquired by any organizations to which it was offered directly as a gift or for sale, then the archive, library and historical community at large will be advised of the Collection’s intention to offer the material for transfer.  This offer will normally be made online via the Maine Libraries Discussion List (MELIBS-L) and Maine Cultural Organizations List (MCULTR-L), and in other publications where appropriate. 

A period of at least two months will be allowed for an interest in acquiring the material to be expressed. At the end of this period, if no expressions of interest have been received, the Collection may consider transferring the material to other interested individuals and organizations giving priority to organizations that are publicly accessible. 

The Collection may consider deaccession by sale in the following circumstances: 

  • Where it has not been possible to identify an appropriate publicly accessible cultural heritage institution as a recipient after following the Collection’s deaccession procedure and it is considered in the public interest to realize the market value of the object 
  • If an object being considered for deaccession was initially purchased by the Collection. 
  • Any money obtained by the sale will support the operations of the Collection, such as collection management and acquisitions.

If items are to be offered for general sale, the Collection will make every effort to make members of the local community aware of the sale and the reasons for which it is being conducted.

Deaccession Policy

The Archivist, Collections Committee and Board will ensure that the deaccession process is carried out openly and transparently. 

By definition, the Collection has a long-term purpose and holds collections in trust for
society in relation to its stated objectives. The Collection therefore accepts the principle that sound collections management reasons for deaccession must be established before consideration is given to the deaccession of any items.

Deaccession will be undertaken only on the advice of the Archivist and Collections Committee, with the primary intention of improving access and care, or on health and safety grounds. All deaccessions will be made on behalf of and in the best interests of the public, the Collection as a whole, and the object itself.

The Collection will confirm that it is legally free to deaccession an item and agreements on deaccession, made with donors, will be taken into account. For example, if the donor selected on the Deed of Gift that they would like items returned in the event of deaccession, the Collection must respect that agreement.

When deaccession of a Collection object is being considered, the Collection will establish if it was acquired with the aid of an external funding organization. In such cases, any conditions attached to the original grant will be followed. 

When deaccession is motivated by collections management reasons, such as space constraints, or lack of relevance to the Collection’s mission, the method of deaccession may be by gift, sale or exchange.

In exceptional cases, the deaccession may be motivated principally by financial reasons. The method of deaccession will therefore be by sale. In cases where deaccession is motivated by financial reasons, the Board of Directors will not undertake deaccession unless it can be demonstrated that all the following exceptional circumstances are met in full:

  • deaccession will significantly improve the public benefit derived from the remaining collection
  • deaccession will not be undertaken to generate short-term revenue 
  • deaccession will be undertaken after other sources of funding have been thoroughly explored.

Whether the deaccession is motivated either by collections management or financial reasons, the decision to remove the material from the collections will be taken only after full consideration of the reasons for doing so. 

A decision to deaccession a collection or object, whether by gift, exchange, sale or destruction (in the case of an item too badly damaged or deteriorated to be of any use for the purposes of the collections or for reasons of health and safety), will be the responsibility of the the Archivist and Collection staff, after the input of the Collections Committee and Advisory Board. 

Any monies received by the Collection from the deaccession of items will be applied for the benefit of the collections. This means improvements relating to the care of collections, in order to avoid damage to and deterioration of the collections. In exceptional cases, the purchase of further acquisitions may be justifiable. Any monies received in compensation for the damage, loss or destruction of items will be applied in the same way.