Museums to have clear-out of items of 'uncertain provenance'
An iron operating table, a letterpress and a cobbler's buffing machine are among the items that could be disposed of amid plans to cut back on museum collections, according to a local authority.
Curators have compiled a list of items that could go from museums in Powys, including sites in Welshpool, Llanidloes, Radnorshire and Brecknock following an appraisal of their stock, which found some items have an uncertain provenance, while others are in a "poor condition".
The appraisal found that the items do not fit within museum's collection development policies and therefore would be suitable for disposal.
Some of the items proposed for disposal include a washing machine, bought in Cardiff in 1932, a Raleigh ladies bicycle, circa 1925-1930, and a turnip drill. A variety of books and pictures could also be disposed of.
A decision will be taken by councillors at a meeting tomorrow.
In a report by Catherine Richards, Powys County Council's principal lead for museums, archives and information management, says that the authority had decided to review its collection to take a decision on which items should be preserved.
She said: "The museums accepts that one of their key functions is to acquire artefacts and to keep them for posterity.
"In recent years staff have followed a strict collecting policy, however, historically a number of items, often with uncertain provenance and sometimes in extremely poor condition have been taken into the collection.
"The main driver for the collection review was to reappraise items and to assess their suitability for long-term preservation."
The report also states that items may only be disposed of if the decision increases the public benefit from the collections housed by museums.
It states: "There is a strong presumption against the disposal of any artefacts in the Powys museums' collections.
"However the collections development policies allows that each museum may carry out a responsible, curatorial-motivated disposal as part of their long-term collections policy.
"It is a requirement that such rationalisation will only take place following an in-depth collection review and in order to increase the public benefit derived from the museums' collections."
Ms Richards said there were no financially motivated reasons for disposal of any items.
Powysland Museum was originally set up in 1874 and was housed in the first purpose-built premises in Wales.
It moved to its current base in 1990.
The museum collections cover the archaeology and social history of the old county of Montgomeryshire.
