Museum Management Plan for John Muir National Historic Site

This Museum Management Plan for the consolidated operation of three units of the NPS, Eugene O’Neill (EUON), John Muir (JOMU), Rosie the Riveter (RORI) and one affiliated area, Port Chicago (POCH), identifies the issues facing the parks, and presents recommendations to address them. A team of collections management professionals developed this plan in full cooperation with the staff responsible for managing the individual park archives, museum collections, and library resources. The collections of the four parks differ in subject matter, size, and complexity; however, despite these differences all the component collections are in a developmental phase. The RORI collections are overall in the best condition, mostly due to better Scope of Collection Statement guidance along with aggressive professional oversight since the park’s establishment in 2000. The EUON and JOMU collections both require remedial documentation and evaluation against the Scope of Collection Statement to establish appropriateness along with reclassification of catalog information. At JOMU, final resolution of the Kimes collection question needs to be addressed in cooperation with the John Muir Association. POCH does not officially have any collections at the present time. However, decisions need to be made about what can or should be included in the park collection. All of the collections require better storage and work area conditions, and selective consolidation of individual park resources according to the recommendations of the Pacific West Regional Curatorial Facility Strategy developed in 2006. Environmental monitoring, integrated pest management, and resource preservation are also primary concerns that need to be addressed by an aggressive collections preventative maintenance program at each park. All archival holdings require systematic evaluation, processing, and documentation.

Museum Management Plan for John Muir National Historic Site

Collections