This page is part of a handbook of documentation standards, developed by the International Council of Museums for use by museums in Africa. For an overview of the project, turn to the initial page.
The fight against illicit traffic of cultural property is a major concern in Africa, and inventories of museum collections are indispensable arms in this combat. The implementation of policies and effective measures for fighting illicit traffic can only be accomplished by setting up regional and international networks for cooperation. The project to develop a standardized system for inventorying and computerizing inventories based on regional and international collaborations is designed to meet this need.
The definition of a museum as a "non-profit making, permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, and open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for purposes of study, education and enjoyment, material evidence of people and their environment" (ICOM Statutes, Article 2) implies that the institution conducts numerous activities such as research and temporary exhibitions. In Africa these activities can only be successfully carried out at the regional level. Present national boundaries, the heritage of recent history, do not correspond to the geographical extension of cultural zones. It is therefore extremely urgent, indeed vital for the development of museums in Africa that they acquire the means of exchanging information on museum collections and their documentation. African museums outside of Africa must also be involved in this exchange of information for they too conserve part of the African heritage.
Therefore ICOM wishes to develop this project of computerization of inventories in Africa on a continental scale. For this purpose, preliminary contacts with museums have been made and a pilot project has been elaborated.
A questionnaire has been distributed to the African museums willing to take part in this pilot project. According to their replies, seven museums were selected to work on establishing standards for African collections inventories. Representatives from these museums met in Paris, in July 1993, together with members of the CIDOC (ICOM International Committee for Documentation). They further defined the project as follows:
After having tested the standards established in July 1993 in Paris on a group of approximately 1000 objects, the six pilot museums met again with the CIDOC in July 1994 in Nairobi, Kenya, in order to revise the Handbook of Standards. They especially considered the application of these standards to the different types of collections (ethnographic, archaeological, paleontological, natural sciences, fine arts, etc).
Herewith is the new version of the Handbook of Standards. It should again be revised and enriched by the pilot museums at the end of 1995.
The enormous amount of work accomplished can only meet its objective when the greatest number possible of African and Africanist museums have adopted the standards proposed here for the documentation of their collections. Thus, we would strongly encourage you all to test these standards and send your comments to the ICOM Secretariat so they can be included in the final version of the Handbook.
Move to initial page about the Handbook or General information about the data standard
author: ICOM; updated June 1995