Job description of the chief curator of museum objects. Job description of a curator of museum objects. For accounting and storage of museum valuables located

01.10.2021

Characteristics

Types of labor Management / Creativity / Control

Prof. focus person - person / person - artistic image

Areas of activity Management / Science / Education / Culture

Spheres of work Person / Information / Art

Description

Working in a public or private museum is a socially responsible activity because it is a place where our own history and life history is physically visible. There are chief curators in all museums. The main work of the chief curator of the museum is working with funds, responsibility for the good fate and condition of all funds. He accepts all items arriving at the museum and draws up appropriate acts of their acceptance. This item or document is then entered into the inventory book where it is given an inventory number based on which the item can be registered in the database. After this procedure is completed, the chief curator of the museum sends the item to the appropriate fund. Museum collections usually contain tens of times more materials than are presented in exhibitions. There are separate funds for books, documents, photographs, consumer goods, weapons, as well as for other sources. The museum's chief curator is not a worker who does only technical work and fills out paperwork. He must also, when new items arrive, determine their value and ownership. The chief curator of the museum directs the work of the foundation commission, which makes decisions on new museum receipts, on the organization of exhibitions and on replenishment of funds.

Must know

To work as a chief custodian, broad knowledge from different areas of life will be useful. In addition, the chief curator must keep abreast of changing circumstances and literary developments. Based on the specifics of the museum, you should have a thorough knowledge of the specific area. The core skills and knowledge of a museum's chief curator include general principles and methods of cultural preservation, cultural history, professional terminology, research and description of the condition of individual objects and collections, identification of risks and hazards, and planning of resources required for the work.

Professionally important qualities

communication skills;
ability to make decisions;
sense of responsibility;
subsequence;
ability to tolerate routine and stressful work;
logical thinking;
willingness to cooperate;
accuracy;
Creative skills;
visual memory.

Medical contraindications

nervous and mental disorders;
diction disorders;
diseases of the musculoskeletal system.

Paths to obtaining a profession

Higher professional education.

Related professions

Guide-translator, museologist.

MINISTRY OF CULTURE USSR
ORDER

1. Approve the Instructions for accounting and storage of museum valuables located in state museums of the USSR, and put it into effect from October 1, 1985.

2. The ministries of culture of the union republics will bring this Instruction to all subordinate museums and cultural bodies.

3. The ministries of culture of the union republics, the departments of museums (t. Rodimtseva I.A.) and fine arts and protection of monuments (t. Popov G.P.) exercise constant control over ensuring the accounting and storage of museum funds in accordance with the approved Instructions.

4. To recognize as invalid the Instructions for accounting and storage of museum values of museums of the USSR Ministry of Culture system (except for art ones), approved by the USSR Ministry of Culture, and Order of the USSR Ministry of Culture dated December 23, 1971 N 754 “On the implementation of the Instructions for accounting and storage museum valuables in art museums and art departments of museums of the USSR Ministry of Culture."
Deputy Minister

T.V. GOLUBTSOVA
INSTRUCTIONS

FOR ACCOUNTING AND STORING MUSEUM VALUABLES LOCATED

IN THE STATE MUSEUMS OF THE USSR
I. General provisions
The procedure for accounting and storage work
1. State museums of the USSR are the main repositories of monuments of material and spiritual culture, as well as natural history, which are part of the museum collection of the USSR, and are obliged to ensure their accounting and complete preservation.

This Instruction defines the procedure and basic forms of accounting, methods of storage and restoration of museum valuables.

2. Based on this Instruction and taking into account other regulatory documents, the management of a museum, restoration or exhibition institution is obliged to develop its own instructions defining the internal procedure for recording, storing and restoring museum valuables: storing them in storerooms, in permanent exhibitions and at exhibitions, receiving and issuing for permanent or temporary use, restoration inspections, security, duty, sealing and sealing of premises, storage of keys, rights and obligations of custodians, researchers, restorers, room caretakers. Fire and security guards are determined in accordance with the established procedure.

3. The director of a museum, restoration or exhibition institution is responsible for creating appropriate conditions for storing museum valuables, for their complete safety, for the state of accounting, scientific inventory, restoration and conservation, for ensuring their protection during the day and at night, as well as for fire safety condition of the museum (institution).

4. Along with the director, the chief curator (in some museums - the deputy director for accounting and storage) is responsible for the integrity and safety of museum valuables, for the condition and correct organization of their accounting, conservation and restoration. If the museum does not have a chief curator on staff, responsibility for this work rests with the head of the collections or a researcher who, by order of the director, is assigned the duties of a curator or manager of the collections.

Note. In museums where the chief curator (head of funds) is also the custodian of museum valuables, he, in accordance with the established procedure, also bears financial responsibility for the safety of the collections in his custody.
5. The Deputy Director for Scientific Affairs is responsible for the acquisition of funds and the proper quality of scientific inventory. In museums where there is no deputy director for scientific affairs, the director is directly responsible for this work.

6. The deputy director for administrative and economic affairs, and in large museums the deputy director for capital construction, are responsible for ensuring normal temperature, humidity and biological conditions in the museum premises, the state of sanitary and electrical facilities, guard security, timely repairs of the building, supplying the accounting, storage and restoration services with the necessary materials.

The deputy director for administrative and economic affairs must carry out all work to ensure and improve the conditions for storing museum valuables under the direction of the director and coordinated with the chief curator, and in the absence of the latter, with his replacement.

7. In museums where the storage of museum valuables is carried out in departments, the head of the department, along with the chief curator, is responsible for their integrity and complete safety, correct accounting, storage and display, conservation and restoration.
Rights and responsibilities of the chief custodian
8. The chief curator (or head of funds) of the museum manages the work of accounting, storage, conservation and restoration of museum valuables and controls its implementation directly or through the relevant heads of departments. He also controls the admission of persons to the storage of funds and ensures compliance with established rules for the use of museum valuables, and conducts key housekeeping.

9. The chief curator (or head of funds) is appointed and dismissed in museums of union subordination by the Ministry of Culture of the USSR, in museums of republican subordination - by the ministries of culture of union and autonomous republics, in museums of regional, regional, district, etc. subordination - by the relevant departments and departments of culture according to subordination. In state museums of other ministries and departments, the chief curator (or head of funds) is appointed and dismissed by a higher authority.

10. Reception and delivery of cases upon the appointment or dismissal of the chief curator (or head of funds) are carried out according to acts recording the presence and safety of museum funds, the state of accounting and storage, the engineering and technical condition of the premises and equipment of storage facilities, exhibition halls and restoration workshops, the nature temperature, humidity and light conditions on the day the report was drawn up.

11. During vacation, illness or other periods of temporary absence of the chief curator (or head of funds), his rights and responsibilities are assigned to another employee appointed by a special order for the museum.

12. The chief curator (or head of funds) is subordinate directly to the director of the museum and, according to his rights and responsibilities, is his deputy in the field of accounting and storage work.

13. All documents, correspondence, reports, records, storage and restoration plans, as well as documents directly related to the movement of museum funds (reception and issue, transfer from department to department, etc.) must be endorsed by the chief curator (head . funds) or subscribe to it.

14. The instructions and orders of the chief curator (head of funds) in the field of accounting, storage and organization of restoration work are mandatory for all museum employees.

15. Appointments, dismissals and transfers of employees of accounting, storage and restoration, as well as internal security and caretakers of the halls should be made only in agreement with the chief custodian (head of funds).

16. The chief custodian (head of funds) is obliged to ensure:

a) correct accounting of all museum funds in full accordance with these Instructions;

b) taking measures to store museum valuables in conditions that guarantee them from damage and theft;

c) proper maintenance and storage of all accounting and custody documents;

d) timely development of internal museum instructions that define a strict procedure for work in the field of accounting, storage, restoration and protection of museum valuables and the responsibility of each custodian and internal security employee for the entrusted area of accounting and storage work;

e) control over the proper work of department heads, curators and other employees in the field of accounting, storage, restoration and protection of museum valuables, their packaging for transportation;

f) periodic commission verification of the custodians' knowledge of instructions for recording and storing museum valuables.

17. In the event of receiving an order from the director that contradicts these Instructions, the chief custodian (head of funds), before executing it, must notify the director in writing about the incorrectness of the order given by him. When the director confirms the order in writing, the chief curator is obliged to immediately notify the Ministry of Culture of the USSR or the Ministry of Culture of the Union Republic according to the subordination of the museum (in state museums of other ministries and departments - to higher authorities).

18. Employees who allow the loss, theft or damage of museum valuables, as well as violation of fire safety rules and regulations, are subject to disciplinary and criminal liability and bear financial liability in the manner prescribed by current legislation.

19. The director and chief curator (head of funds) are obliged to immediately report all cases of theft, damage or disease of museum objects to the Ministry of Culture of the USSR, the Ministry of Culture of the Union, Autonomous Republics and local cultural authorities in accordance with their subordination verbally, and then in writing, detailing all the circumstances of the incident.

Cases of theft must be immediately notified to the investigative authorities in order to take urgent measures to search for the stolen items.

20. In all cases of damage or serious illness of museum objects, the museum is obliged to immediately draw up a defective report, which accurately records the degree of damage or illness of the item, the cause and circumstances of the damage (a photograph of the damaged item is attached to the defective report). The museum is also obliged to take, in accordance with the established procedure, measures to restore and restore the object and eliminate the cause of the disease. If an object is damaged, the museum must ensure the safety of all its parts, even the most insignificant ones (particles of the paint layer of paintings, fragments of sculpture, porcelain, furniture parts, fragments of sewing, scraps of paper, etc.) and transfer them to the restoration workshop simultaneously with the transfer of the object for restoration .

21. All museums must establish careful control over the condition of particularly outstanding monuments of material and spiritual culture and natural history. Individual files should be opened for these monuments, which concentrate all documentation related to changes in the state of preservation of the object and its restoration. In the event of illness or damage to such a monument, a copy of the defective act, together with an explanatory note and a photograph of the damaged item, is immediately sent to the Ministry of Culture of the USSR and the Ministry of Culture of the Union Republic in accordance with the subordination of the museum (for museums of other ministries and departments - to higher authorities).

Restoration of particularly outstanding museum treasures, except for the simplest conservation work, may be carried out only with the permission of the USSR Ministry of Culture and in the presence of the conclusion of a commission consisting of authoritative specialists, museum workers and highly qualified restorers.
Rights and obligations of the custodian and other employees,

performing storage functions
22. Accounting and storage of museum valuables is carried out by the custodians of the museum’s funds and exhibitions.

In museums that do not have curators of collection departments on staff, their duties and the responsibilities of curators of the exhibition are assigned by the director to the department's scientific employees.

The duties of the curator are also assigned to the director of the traveling exhibition or another person accompanying the exhibits of the exhibition.

23. Curators are appointed and dismissed by order of the director in agreement with the chief curator and the heads of the relevant departments (if they exist in the museum structure).

24. Persons who have a higher (or specialized secondary) education, have worked as a research assistant for at least a year and have completed an internship at a museum in the section of conservation work for at least 3 months can be appointed as custodians of museum collections.

25. Custodians directly or through the heads of the relevant departments (if the storage of funds is carried out by departments) are subordinate to the main custodian (head of funds).

26. Custodians of museum valuables made of precious metals and stones are approved upon the recommendation of the director by higher authorities under the subordination of the museum.

27. Keepers are responsible in accordance with the procedure established by law for museum valuables in their custody, for their correct accounting and safety from damage and theft.

28. When a curator is dismissed or moves to another job in a given museum, the management is obliged to ensure the timely transfer of museum valuables in his custody to a new employee, and if this is not possible, to a specially created commission.

29. In accordance with their official duties, custodians carry out the following work:

a) keep strict records of museum valuables in their financially responsible storage;

b) store them in conditions that ensure safety from damage and theft.

30. For these purposes, custodians are obliged:

a) accept funds for financially responsible storage according to the relevant acts, listing all accepted items and indicating the state of their safety at the time of acceptance.

Acts of acceptance for financially responsible storage are approved by the director. One copy of the act against a receipt in the registration book is issued to the custodian, the second goes to the accounting department (where there is no such department - to the main custodian or director), the third - to the file of this custodian, which is kept by the main custodian;

b) keep records and periodically check the availability of museum objects stored by them;

c) ensure their timely scientific inventory;

d) distribute items according to storage locations in funds according to a certain system and draw up topographical inventories, scientific reference files and custodian books;

e) take measures to provide storage facilities and exhibitions with museum equipment (racks, stands, display cases, cabinets, etc.) that meet the rules for storing museum valuables;

f) monitor the condition of museum equipment, as well as the condition of locks and seals on cabinets, display cases, etc., lock and seal them with your seal;

g) monitor the condition of the exhibition halls and storage facilities, lock and seal them upon completion of work in accordance with the internal regulations established in the museum, and in the absence of 24-hour security in these premises, monitor compliance with fire safety regulations.

Notes. 1. In the event of an urgent need to open a repository or display case in the absence of the curator, it is carried out by a commission consisting of three museum employees with the obligatory presence among them of the chief curator (head of funds) or director, and in the absence of the director - his deputy. When opening a storage facility, an act must be drawn up recording the reasons and results of the opening.

2. The right to lock and seal the exhibition in compliance with the established procedure for transferring exhibits may be entrusted to the museum research assistant on duty. The duty schedule is approved by the director or chief custodian (head of funds).
h) if any deficiencies are discovered in the exhibition halls and storage facilities or in museum equipment leading to a violation of the rules for storing museum objects, immediately notify the head of the department, the chief curator (head of funds), the deputy director for administrative and economic affairs, and director;

i) control the admission of visitors to the storage facilities and ensure their strict compliance with the established museum rules, keep a register of visitors to the storage facilities, and do not allow unauthorized persons into the storage facilities who do not have the permission of the director or chief curator;

Curator of museum objects

Job responsibilities. Ensures the storage of museum objects, their safety and conservation, the study of museum objects accepted for safekeeping, and checks their registration in the inventory books for storage funds. Carries out systematization of museum objects accepted for safekeeping, compilation of topographical inventories, scientific reference files, maintaining relevant sections of the museum’s electronic databases. Participates in the acquisition of museum collections. Conducts systematic monitoring of the state of preservation of museum objects. Carries out work to identify exhibits in need of restoration, as well as carry out preventive measures to ensure the safety of museum objects. Prepares tasks for restoration and conservation of the storage fund for consideration by the restoration council. Participates in checking the availability of museum objects and museum collections and reconciling their availability with accounting documentation. Provides work on insurance copying of documentary and photographic funds (within its competence). Monitors the temperature and humidity conditions of the storage facility premises. Takes part in the preparation of expositions and exhibitions. Prepares materials for the publication of catalogs of collections, reviews of materials from storage funds, materials upon public requests related to information on storage funds.

Must know: laws and other regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation on the issues of preservation and development of the cultural heritage of the peoples of the Russian Federation, regulating the activities of museums; the procedure for organizing work on recording, storing, studying, publishing, ensuring the safety of museum objects and museum collections; rules for describing museum objects; methods for checking the availability of museum objects and checking the availability of museum objects with accounting documentation; the procedure for organizing the examination of cultural property and museum items; requirements for the procedure for issuing museum objects for temporary and permanent use; procedure for registering transactions with museum objects; the procedure for maintaining the State Catalog of the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation; requirements for temperature and humidity conditions, illumination and maximum air fluctuations in storage facilities and exhibition premises; regulatory documents and local regulations on ensuring the security of museum collections; basics of labor legislation; internal labor regulations; labor protection and fire safety rules.

Qualification requirements.

Curator of museum objects of category I - higher professional education (culture and art, humanitarian, technical) and work experience as a curator of museum objects of category II for at least 2 years.

Curator of museum objects of category II - higher professional education (culture and art, humanitarian, technical) and work experience as a curator of museum objects for at least 1 year.

Keeper of museum objects - higher professional education in specialties corresponding to the type of activity of the museum, or specialty "museum affairs", work experience in the museum for at least 1 year.

8. The chief curator (or head of funds) of the museum manages the work of accounting, storage, conservation and restoration of museum valuables and controls its implementation directly or through the relevant heads of departments. He also controls the admission of persons to the storage of funds and ensures compliance with established rules for the use of museum valuables, and conducts key housekeeping.

14. The instructions and orders of the chief curator (head of funds) in the field of accounting, storage and organization of restoration work are mandatory for all museum employees.

16. The chief custodian (head of funds) is obliged to ensure:

A) correct accounting of all museum funds in full accordance with these Instructions;

B) taking measures to store museum valuables in conditions that guarantee them from damage and theft;

C) proper maintenance and storage of all accounting and custody documents;

D) timely development of internal museum instructions that define a strict procedure for work in the field of accounting, storage, restoration and protection of museum valuables and the responsibility of each custodian and internal security employee for the entrusted area of accounting and storage work;

E) control over the proper work of department heads, curators and other employees in the field of accounting, storage, restoration and protection of museum valuables, their packaging for transportation;

E) periodic commission verification of the custodians' knowledge of instructions for recording and storing museum valuables.

Cases of theft must be immediately notified to the investigative authorities in order to take urgent measures to search for the stolen items.

Under custodianship is understood as a systematic presentation of basic concepts that involve the creation of material and legal conditions under which the safety of a museum object and museum collection is ensured.

Systematic presentation is a common feature of the guardianship, thanks to which it belongs to the class of sciences, and without which it could not be called a science.

The basic concepts of guardianship are based on ideas about being and consciousness, culture and civilization, man and society, values, responsibilities and rights, people and individuals, state, society and religious organizations, which acquire significance and, therefore, imply a centripetal orientation of the actions of members of society , character only in a certain order of subordination and hierarchical construction of terms.

The creation of material conditions presupposes systematized conditions for storing museum objects, tested in practice and enshrined in relevant regulatory documents, in the condition in which they were discovered, and presupposing the provision of this condition within the normatively allotted time.

The creation of legal conditions involves the exclusion of museum objects from economic circulation and their inclusion in the special circulation of objects of the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation, while the problem of alienation of property is solved by a special procedure for universal succession established by the Government of the Russian Federation.

The concept of museum objects and museum collections is based on a theoretically grounded idea of cultural value, the quality or special characteristics of which make it necessary for society to preserve, study and publicly present it, and, therefore, are based on the solution of issues. related not only to the theory of culture in philosophy and cultural studies, set theory in mathematics, theory of interactions in cybernetics and sociology, but also to the theories of a number of applied sciences that describe the flow of information interactions.

Custody takes its own place among social philosophical, cultural, sociological, political science, historical and other social disciplines, allowing it to be identified as a special field of cultural studies./

The keeper

Keeper of objects of the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation (custodian) is a structure-forming staff unit of any museum.

In the position of custodian we see a paradox of modernity that requires resolution.

On the one hand, in the regulatory documents we find a clear description of the custodian’s duties /Order of the USSR Ministry of Culture dated July 17, 1985 N 290 “On approval of the Instructions for the accounting and storage of museum valuables located in state museums of the USSR”/.

On the other hand, in labor legislation there is no status of a custodian as a specific profession that ensures the storage of a unique group of values of the peoples inhabiting the Russian Federation - items from the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation .

The profession of curator of museum objects is not included in the Unified Tariff and Qualification Directory of Work and Professions of Workers (UTKS).

The concept of a curator's profession is not included in the current list of standard job descriptions for museum workers. The provisions of this list and other regulatory and administrative documents implicitly assign responsibilities for storing museum objects to a research employee of the museum collections department.

But in fact, museum values remain without proper personal responsibility. In accordance with Article 239 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, financial liability is excluded in the following cases: “damage occurs due to force majeure circumstances, normal economic risk, extreme necessity or necessary defense, or the employer’s failure to fulfill the obligation to provide adequate conditions for storing property entrusted to the employee,” it can be argued that a significant part of the national heritage remains virtually ownerless.

In the custodian we see a unique profession of our time, the roots of which go back to the ancient past, and the future is seen as more than worthy. The curator of objects of the Museum Fund of Russia embodied the best traits of a scientist and citizen. This profession requires mandatory scientific work. A modern curator is always a scientist. But at the same time it implies full financial responsibility, which is excluded by the labor legislation of the Russian Federation. IN The list of works during the performance of which full collective (team) financial liability for the shortage of property entrusted to employees can be introduced[Appendix No. 3 to the Resolution of the Ministry of Labor and Social Development of the Russian Federation dated December 31, 2002 No. 85] there is no profession of curator of museum objects, therefore written agreements on full financial responsibility cannot be concluded with them.

Understanding the urgent need for recognition of the profession of the custodian of objects of the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation, guided by the provisions of the charter of the Research Institute for Standardization of Museum Activities provide assistance and legal assistance to creative workers.

By decision of the Board it was decided to create NATIONAL NOMENCLATURE OF SPECIALISTS OF MUSEUMS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION.

The goals of creating the nomenclature are to form a professional community of creative figures united by common tasks, having similar problems and included in a single technological cycle. The task of the nomenclature is to determine the key rights and responsibilities of the Guardians, the limits of responsibility and the level of payment for the work performed. Based on the complexity of museum accounting and storage operations, the enormous physical and intellectual load. Based on the productive nature of the work of the guardians, the main creators added value of cultural property, we believe that the basic salary of a curator should fluctuate within 40 thousand rubles per month, and depend not on the category of the museum or its location in a large city or rural area, but solely on the number and complexity of objects in storage.

We did not choose the name of the registry by chance. The nomenclature is a specialized list of positions, the appointment of which requires approval by a representative of the owner of the organization (institution, department, division, institute, etc.). according to clause 9. The chief curator (or head of funds) is appointed and dismissed in museums of union subordination by the Ministry of Culture of the USSR, in museums of republican subordination - by the ministries of culture of union and autonomous republics, in museums of regional, regional, district, etc. subordination - by the relevant departments and departments of culture according to subordination. In state museums of other ministries and departments, the chief curator (or head of funds) is appointed and dismissed by a higher authority. Similar to clause 23. Curators are appointed and dismissed by order of the director in agreement with the chief curator and the heads of the relevant departments (if there are any in the museum structure). In addition, clause 32. In the event of a long absence of the curator, a replacement person is appointed in agreement with the main curator by order of the museum with appropriate registration of the transfer of museum valuables.” these are the requirements of the main regulatory document of the Order of the Ministry of Culture of the USSR dated July 17, 1985 N 290 “On approval of the Instructions for the accounting and storage of museum valuables located in state museums of the USSR.” We simply state this fact in a formal document. We do not assert, but we designate what has already happened and show that nomenclature is reality.

Registration in the nomenclature lists is voluntary. In total, we offer three categories of specialists: Chief Curator of the Museum, Keeper of Objects of the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation, Specialist in Accounting and Storage of Museum Objects and Museum Collections. The windows for registration, indicated in red font, are required to be filled out. Windows marked in green are filled as desired. Everyone registered in the database will be sent Personal Certificates from the National Nomenclature of Museum Specialists of the Russian Federation, which will be the first document indicating that you have the unique profession of curator of museum objects.

Only your last name, first name, patronymic and e-mail specified by you will be available to site visitors. The rest of the information about you will be confidential.

Museum curators across the country - unite!