Guidelines for Lending Works of Art on Paper

The very act of exhibiting works on paper so that they may be enjoyed and studied exacts a penalty: a measurable negative impact on the physical condition of the object. Virtually everyone in the museum profession is torn between the need to preserve and the need to share. The issues one encounters in making decisions about exhibiting and lending works on paper are not always simple. There is also the difficult determination that weighs risks and known physical factors against the institution’s mission and goals.

During the late 1960s, the Print Council of America (PCA) discussed the need for standard lending policies and procedures for museums that would reflect the distinctive characteristics and challenges of works on paper. The origins of this publication, Guidelines for Lending Works of Art on Paper, may be traced to a later panel discussion on loan policies held at the PCA’s annual meeting in 1988 in Cleveland, which led the group’s then-president Jay M. Fisher to suggest that the PCA take on the publication of a standard code of practice for handling loans of works on paper. Verna Curtis, the moderator of the 1988 panel and a curator at the Library of Congress, was joined by curators Suzanne Boorsch (Metropolitan Museum of Art), Marjorie B. Cohn (Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University), and Margaret Morgan Grasselli (National Gallery of Art) in compiling the manuscript. Their work was informed by a questionnaire sent to the PCA’s membership, soliciting current practices and relevant advice. A draft of the guidelines was circulated to the International Advisory Committee of Keepers of Public Collections of Graphic Art and the PCA’s board in 1992–93, and the book was published in 1995 with a foreword by then-president Richard S. Field. It was circulated to the full membership of the PCA, as well as to the Registrar’s Committee of the American Association of Museums and the International Keepers group.

In 2015, a second edition of Guidelines for Lending Works of Art on Paper was initiated by then-president James A. Ganz. The revisions, reflecting evolving practices and standards, were overseen by Joan Wright, the Bettina Burr Conservator in the Asian Conservation Studio at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston, and contributions were made by many colleagues at the MFA and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. This edition is made freely available to all.