The Tillamook County Pioneer Museum is home to approximately 55,000 artifacts and 20,000 photographs, documents, and pieces of archival material and have been collecting since the Museum's inception in 1935. Here is some more information about what objects and artifacts we hold in the public trust and how we manage them.
TCPM works hard to ensure each object in our collection is preserved in perpetuity so that future generations may enjoy these objects as we do. However, this goal is extremely effort and resource intensive. In order to ensure we can properly care for each artifact held in the public trust, we must be selective about what we choose to accept into the collection here. There is a review process each offered artifact must go through before it is made part of the Museum’s collection. Here are some of our most asked questions about our collections answered for you!
What objects does TCPM collect?
Per our Scope of Collection statement in our Collection Management Policy, The Tillamook County Pioneer Museum collects and preserves objects and archival material that documents Tillamook County’s cultural, political, economic, religious, social, intellectual, artistic, architectural, industrial, and environmental history. In other words, TCPM collects:
I have an artifact I'd like to donate!
As long as your object meets the above description of scope, we would love to hear from you. The following process goes for all proposed donations for our museum's collection and is the standard process as recommended by the American Alliance of Museums and the American Association for State and Local History. We respectfully ask all donors to follow this procedure.
Will my donated artifact be exhibited?
TCPM cannot promise to exhibit every artifact that is donated to us, nor new acquisitions to our collection. There are several reasons for this.
First, we simply don't have the space to exhibit all 55,000 of our artifacts. Even with 19 exhibit spaces in the old county courthouse building we occupy, it's not possible to showcase everything we have in our collection. Most museums only exhibit a small fraction of all the objects they hold!
Second, exhibition isn't always the best course of action for the long-term preservation of artifacts. Exhibition involves exposure to light and dust, which can be damaging in the long term to artifacts, and increased risk of damage from visitors in high traffic areas. One of our goals at the museum is to ensure our collections artifacts are here to be enjoyed and studied for as long as possible into the future, and that may mean an artifact is better served in preservation storage more often than it is on exhibit. That being said, we also take every precaution to ensure what is on display in exhibit spaces is as well cared for and safe as possible, and your artifact may very well be exhibited.
The Collections Accountability Project
Beginning in the Spring of 2021, the Tillamook County Pioneer Museum began an organization-wide endeavor to gain complete control over the extensive collections held at the museum. This will consist of updating policies and procedures for handling, documenting, accessing, and exhibiting the collection, a complete wall-to-wall inventory of all the objects in the collection, and refinement processes to reduce the volume of objects held here at TCPM that are irrelevant to its mission. As such, TCPM is going to reduce our collection development for the time being until the project is further underway. The museum will still be considering and accepting object and archival donations, but staff and the Collections Committee may be more selective than usual temporarily. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the Collections Manager.
Current status: Policy Approved, Inventory Phase One - Data Collection.
We at TCPM are grateful for your understanding and ongoing support of our mission and collections!
TCPM works hard to ensure each object in our collection is preserved in perpetuity so that future generations may enjoy these objects as we do. However, this goal is extremely effort and resource intensive. In order to ensure we can properly care for each artifact held in the public trust, we must be selective about what we choose to accept into the collection here. There is a review process each offered artifact must go through before it is made part of the Museum’s collection. Here are some of our most asked questions about our collections answered for you!
What objects does TCPM collect?
Per our Scope of Collection statement in our Collection Management Policy, The Tillamook County Pioneer Museum collects and preserves objects and archival material that documents Tillamook County’s cultural, political, economic, religious, social, intellectual, artistic, architectural, industrial, and environmental history. In other words, TCPM collects:
- Objects made by or used by Tillamook County and/or North Oregon Coast residents in work, school, home, or social group settings.
- Objects that document the history of the governmental operations of Tillamook County and/or the surrounding municipalities.
- Cultural or artistic works created by Tillamook County or North Oregon Coast residents.
- Natural history collections that meet the following requirements:
- The specimen is not alive.
- The specimen, if perishable, is properly preserved in perpetuity.
- The specimen is native to Tillamook County or the North Oregon Coast.
I have an artifact I'd like to donate!
As long as your object meets the above description of scope, we would love to hear from you. The following process goes for all proposed donations for our museum's collection and is the standard process as recommended by the American Alliance of Museums and the American Association for State and Local History. We respectfully ask all donors to follow this procedure.
- First, reach out to TCPM's Collections Manager, Clara Scillian Kennedy ([email protected], or 503-842-4553) about your offered objects/materials. When you do, you'll be asked to describe in a few sentences what the object is and how you came by it. Please do not bring in objects with no notice.
- If TCPM is interested in the offered objects, you will be asked to bring or send them to the museum. When you drop off the artifacts, you will be asked to fill out a Temporary Custody form. This is largely for TCPM’s records, but we will happily provide a copy upon request.
- At its next meeting, the Collections Committee will review and discuss your object, if it has a place in TCPM’s collections, and if the museum is in a place to care for it. You will be notified of their decision within a week of this meeting.
- If the Collections Committee has decided to accept the objects into the collection, you will be sent a Deed of Gift form that will officially transfer title (ownership) of the object to TCPM and recognize you as the official donor. If the Committee decides that TCPM is not the best home for the object, you will be asked to pick it up or staff will otherwise return it to you.
Will my donated artifact be exhibited?
TCPM cannot promise to exhibit every artifact that is donated to us, nor new acquisitions to our collection. There are several reasons for this.
First, we simply don't have the space to exhibit all 55,000 of our artifacts. Even with 19 exhibit spaces in the old county courthouse building we occupy, it's not possible to showcase everything we have in our collection. Most museums only exhibit a small fraction of all the objects they hold!
Second, exhibition isn't always the best course of action for the long-term preservation of artifacts. Exhibition involves exposure to light and dust, which can be damaging in the long term to artifacts, and increased risk of damage from visitors in high traffic areas. One of our goals at the museum is to ensure our collections artifacts are here to be enjoyed and studied for as long as possible into the future, and that may mean an artifact is better served in preservation storage more often than it is on exhibit. That being said, we also take every precaution to ensure what is on display in exhibit spaces is as well cared for and safe as possible, and your artifact may very well be exhibited.
The Collections Accountability Project
Beginning in the Spring of 2021, the Tillamook County Pioneer Museum began an organization-wide endeavor to gain complete control over the extensive collections held at the museum. This will consist of updating policies and procedures for handling, documenting, accessing, and exhibiting the collection, a complete wall-to-wall inventory of all the objects in the collection, and refinement processes to reduce the volume of objects held here at TCPM that are irrelevant to its mission. As such, TCPM is going to reduce our collection development for the time being until the project is further underway. The museum will still be considering and accepting object and archival donations, but staff and the Collections Committee may be more selective than usual temporarily. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the Collections Manager.
Current status: Policy Approved, Inventory Phase One - Data Collection.
We at TCPM are grateful for your understanding and ongoing support of our mission and collections!
We take care of our Museum Collections very seriously. But collections care begins at home! From time to time, we will add tips on how to care for items you own.
July 2019: Tips for Organizing and Storing Your Family Photos
July 2019: Tips for Organizing and Storing Your Family Photos
- Don’t try to do it all at once. This is a marathon project, not a sprint.
- Use large boxes or plastic totes to store the photographs while in-process so you can easily set them aside or pick them up as you have time and energy to work on them.
- Label photos with who is in the photo, where it was taken, the approximate date, and the event, if known, using photo-specific pens, or pencils (on older paper-backed prints).
- Carefully remove photographs from old “sticky” style binders or from any photo albums with a strong plastic smell as these damage photos in the long term.
- Use only acid-free albums, envelopes, or boxes meant for photographs for your sorted and labeled photos.
- Consider the future of the photo. Does it have meaning just to you, or is it meant to be preserved and passed on, either as an heirloom or a museum donation. Sort out these photos accordingly.
- Sort out duplicate photos. Offer them to family members at your next gathering, or dispose of them.
- You don’t have to keep every photo. Feel empowered to only keep the best photos out of a batch of similar ones.
- Store photos in the most climate-controlled part of your house. Keeping them from getting too warm, cold, or moist, or places that experience extreme fluctuation in temperature and humidity will help them last the longest.
- If you choose to scan or digitize your photos, consider the long-term preservation of the digitized copy. Are you prepared if the computer crashes, or if the hard-drive breaks, or the technology becomes obsolete? Are you storing them online? You don't want to put in all that work just to lose your digital copy!