VOCABULARY TERM: CURATING

Curating. The many curatorial duties to identify, catalog, preserve and protect specimens for study. Curators may be called upon for a variety of activities from appraising to exhibiting to writing about the objects under their care. But a curator may be said to be an administrator of objects. Of greatest importance is conservation and preservation – protecting and keeping these objects from damage, deterioration and disappearance. Fortunately numismatic objects are easy to preserve, since most are metal, but their small size can be a problem. Paper money and nonmetal objects have their own problems of preservation.

Of equal importance to preserving and protection is assisting scholars in dissemination information about the collection within the curator's control. The curator must be an accomplished numismatist. He (or she) must be able to arrange, house and retrieve specimens upon request. He must know the classification system his institution uses, to be able to create a numbering system to identify specimens in his collections, or new arrivals, and be able to create the paperwork to control their existence.

He must be able to accession new specimens and integrate these within the existing collections. He must be able to assign a unique accession number to new specimens. In rare occasions he will be called upon to deaccession duplicate or unwanted specimens.

As part of a numismatic record, the curator must know how to catalog. To arrange items for publication, to write up their descriptions and record their data. He must be familiar with literature in the field and have access to necessary reference works. Sometimes the curator needs to do laboratory testing and perform other tasks of authentication.

The curator must have a flare for display as exhibiting specimens is an important function of curating. He must have knowledge of how these objects tell a story and fit into a larger scheme of history or culture or heritage or the development of a theme. Usually exhibit space is limited so a choice must be made to select specimens that exemplify the theme of the exhibit. When objects are leant to other institutions he must prepare a condition report and check the condition on their return.

If the curator can write well, he is often called upon to write descriptions, an article, a scientific paper, or even a book. His institution will require him to write for their periodicals, newsletter, or other publications.

He must keep up with market values of the items within his chosen field. If his institution allows it, he can perform appraisals when requested.

And, always, are the questions to be answered. These come from within their own institution, from the press, from scholars, from academia, and from the public. The curator holds a unique position in which he has specialized knowledge which he must share with others. He needs to answer telephone inquiries and correspondence – sometimes repetitious – with courtesy and aplomb. Curatorial duties are many and varied.

To read the complete entry on the Newman Numismatic Portal, see:
Curating (https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/dictionarydetail/515618)

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