HUNTERIAN COLLECTIONS SECURITY
The Hunterian is responsible for safeguarding, caring for and displaying the museum collections of the University of Glasgow, and supporting the use of those collections for teaching and research. We adhere to strict recognised collections management standards and systems to manage the safety and security of our collections.
The Hunterian is the oldest public museum in Scotland, with collections dating back as far as the 18th century. Over time, the collections have grown to encompass well over a million items of every conceivable kind and value. Much of the collection was acquired before any professional collections management processes and systems, such as catalogue records, were in place. Building these systems from the 1930s onwards, The Hunterian has in the past seven years been moving the collections to Kelvin Hall, updating documentation and catalogue records as part of this process. We have a state-of-the art collections management system in place (Emu).
As far as The Hunterian is aware, there has only been one theft in the past decade, of a small adornment from an item of furniture in the Mackintosh House. We also know of some items incorrectly located in the collection stores. We are aware of several items that were stolen, mostly from display, in the last century.
We have high level security procedures in place in our venues and systems in place to audit collections in public areas. As an Accredited museum, our collection is audited externally as part of that process. In addition, we undertake periodical internal audits of the collection.
Any issues or concerns that are raised would be investigated by senior management and, if necessary, escalated through the University of Glasgow Code of Conduct and Disciplinary procedures.