Shaping Collections for the Future - Who Decides What Museums Keep?
9:15 AM – 4:30 PM
What stays, what goes, and who decides?
Museum collections are constantly evolving. But what happens when an institution decides an object no longer belongs?
Join the Agnes team for Shaping Collections for the Future, a timely conversation exploring the ethics, challenges and possibilities of deaccessioning museum objects.
On 9 September, UK-based museum collections specialist Dr Jenny Durrant brings nearly 25 years of experience in museums and heritage to Kingston. Her work explores how museums make difficult decisions about their collections openly and ethically. Her book, Deaccessioning Museum Objects: Transparency and Ethics in Disposal Practice (Routledge, 2025), examines the tensions of removing objects from public collections.
The day begins with a free public lecture exploring why museums shape their collections, how decisions about disposal are made and the importance of transparency. In the afternoon, a participatory workshop takes the conversation further, exploring the practical, reputational and emotional challenges of removing objects from public collections.
For students, faculty, museum and gallery professionals, archivists, curators, artists, historians and anyone interested in collections and cultural heritage, this is an opportunity to explore questions shaping museum practice today.
Wednesday, 9 September 2026
Stauffer Library- Room 014
Lecture: Free
Workshop: $25 - Discounts available
For more info or to join the conversation, click the link below.
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