The practice of deaccessioning an object is the act of formally removing that object from the museum’s permanent collection. Once an object is deaccessioned it can then be disposed of by various means. The following resources were compiled from organizations throughout the nonprofit and museum sector. AAM reviewed and approved each one based on the organization’s authority and expertise and the resource’s usefulness related to the topic. Clicking the links below will take you off the AAM website.

Deaccessioning

The National Park Service’s (NPS) Museum Handbook (PDF) has a chapter on deaccessioning. The 59-page chapter has an overview of the issues, details the decision-making process and required documentation, and discusses issues such as theft, destruction, abandonment, and hazardous objects. The chapter also includes flow charts and forms, such as those used for deaccession, transfer, exchange, and repatriation.

Policy on Deaccessioning and Change to deaccessioning rule

Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) shares its Policy on Deaccessioning (PDF, 12 pages). In September 2022, AAMD changed the approved use of funds from deaccessioned art to allow funds generated by the sale of deaccessioned art to be used for direct care of objects in a museum’s collection, with a very specific definition of “direct care.” This change brings AAMD’s policy in alignment both with the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB)–and provides a specific definition for “direct care.”