What you need to know about accessing our collections
Our collections are currently closed while we prepare to install reimagined galleries and move into a newly constructed storage facility. We will update this page with a timeline and process for accessing collections as we progress through this final stage of our transformation project. For questions about specific collections areas, please contact the relevant collections manager.
Repatriation
- The Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s collections include Native American and Native Hawaiian remains and objects that fall under the requirements of NAGPRA. The Museum complies with these requirements and will remain in compliance.
- Our policy is to promptly and respectfully respond to any repatriation request and determine appropriate next steps with the inquiring party. Our institution is supportive of repatriation and we have respectfully repatriated human remains and funerary objects that fall under NAGPRA as recently as 2021.
Visiting the collection
- To fulfill its mission, the Museum promotes access to its collections and associated documentation and endeavors to generally make its collections available, while still fulfilling its legal and ethical responsibility to preserve the collection for present and future generations.
- Requests to view or study objects not on display must be made in writing. Access to collections storage spaces is by appointment only; walk-in requests will not be accommodated. Access will be scheduled during normal Museum business hours.
- All access requests are granted at the discretion of the responsible Curator, Collections Manager, Archivist, or Registrar. Individual departments may require additional forms to be completed before access is granted, including a research or use proposal.
- Bench fees will be charged based on collections access, use, and timeline. Bench fees will be agreed to prior to the visit.
- All visitors to the collections must sign an access agreement.
Loans
- Objects from the research collections may be loaned to other non-profit institutions for exhibits, education, and research that cannot take place on the premises of the Museum. Objects that have not been accessioned and catalogued cannot be loaned. All loans to or from the Museum must adhere to applicable international, federal, state, and local laws, treaties, regulations, and conventions.
- Loan requests must be received in writing and a printed copy attached to the Museum’s outgoing loan form. If the request is approved, a Museum outgoing loan form must be fully completed and signed by the borrower for all outgoing loans. Loans are not made directly to students but can be made to a qualified advisor. All outgoing loans are made for a definite period of time, usually for no more than a one-year period. All outgoing loans, except interlibrary loans, require prior authorization by the Curator and the Director of Collections. Primary and secondary type specimens or rare specimens may be loaned only under exceptional circumstances and at the discretion of the staff that oversee the collection area. Loans involving taxa that are underrepresented in our collection may also be restricted.
- Unlike traditional loans, objects loaned for analysis requiring destructive sampling can deplete or cause damage to the specimen; therefore, all loan requests must follow stringent guidelines to ensure that requests of this nature are well thought out, justified, and do not exhaust these limited resources. Researchers may request objects or subsamples of specimens for analysis; however, because our collections are finite, one of our primary responsibilities is to protect these holdings to ensure that they are available for use by future generations and as new technologies become available. In addition to a loan agreement, the borrower must also sign the destructive sampling form.
Intellectual Property and Copyright
- The Museum reserves the rights to all data, images, scans, or other elements generated from accessioned objects held in the institution's collections. Rights, usage, and reproduction of these data, images, scans, or other elements shall be negotiated on a case-by-case basis following the guidelines established in the Division loan agreement and established institutional policy. Usage of such data, images, scans, or other elements that extends beyond the original agreement shall be renegotiated and formalized with an addendum to the original agreement, be it a loan agreement, memorandum of understanding, or another form of contract.
- The Museum retains the copyright and any other associated intellectual property to all assets produced by or otherwise owned by the Museum. Such assets include, but are not limited to, photography, video, and audio files, logos, titles and graphic elements. Any permissions for use and/or reproduction of such Museum-owned assets shall not be considered a transfer of ownership rights.
Donation of specimens or objects
- The Museum condemns and repudiates the illicit traffic in art and cultural objects that contributes to irreparable loss to science and humanity. Objects and specimens that have been stolen, unscientifically gathered or excavated, unethically acquired or sourced, or unlawfully exported from their country of origin should not be made part of the Museum’s collections.
- Gifts of specimens or objects will be evaluated for acceptance based on strategic priorities of the Museum and the status of the receiving collection. Denial of a gift is within the rights of the Museum.
- All gifts must be documented using a “Gift of Property Agreement” to establish transfer of legal title to the Museum. The Museum does not acquire objects that are restricted with respect to their exhibition, maintenance, or disposal. Once the Museum takes possession of an object, it has the sole right to determine how and when the object is shown, safeguarded, or deaccessioned, subject to standard museum practice. The Museum does not promise the permanent exhibition of any donated object. Gifts will not be accepted with the sole purpose of sale for departmental/division funding.
Appraisals for income tax purposes
- Museum staff will not provide monetary appraisals for income tax purposes on objects being donated to the Museum. Obtaining appraisals is the responsibility of the donor. Museum staff may not recommend specific appraisers.
Donations to the Museum are tax-deductible as charitable contributions according to the Internal Revenue Service current guidelines. The Museum cannot offer tax advice to donors. Donors are encouraged to consult with a tax professional or accountant in regard to tax deductions and current IRS guidelines. The Museum will comply with all required IRS documentation for donor tax deductions. Donated objects for which a tax deduction has been taken must be kept by the Museum for the required period as dictated by current IRS guidelines.
