ABSTRACT
The museum’s archives serve as the institutional memory of the museum. Members of the governing body and staff will come and go, but the museum may be in existence for centuries. Governing bodies thus have a responsibility to ensure that the museum retains and safeguards key documents that refl ect its work and progress as a cultural institution through time. These documents provide an important resource for charting the historical development of the museum in physical and organisational terms, and also constitute an important source of reference on the museum’s history for museum staff and researchers. A clear policy and programme for developing and maintaining the museum’s archives are required. The policy will need to be reviewed on a regular basis, but it should aim to provide for consistency and continuity of approach in selecting and retaining material for the museum’s archives.
