DLI Donations

Introduction

The DLI Museum and Durham Art Gallery is a single site building at Aykley Heads in Durham City. The museum is situated on the ground and first floor space with the art gallery on the top floor. The Durham Art Gallery does not hold any collections but solely displays temporary exhibitions.

The DLI Museum and Durham Art Gallery is owned and managed by Durham County Council Cultural Services. The collections of the DLI Museum are the property of the Trustees of the Regimental Museum of The Durham Light Infantry, formed in 1960. Since 1962 the collections have been in the custody of Durham County Council under the terms of a formal loan agreement. The Museum is based on the history of The Durham Light Infantry Regiment.

The Collection

The DLI Museum’s collection covers the history of The Durham Light Infantry from 1758 until 1968, plus material on related organizations including the Durham Militia [1759 – 1919], Durham Volunteers [1859 – 1908], Volunteer Training Crops [WW1] & Durham Home Guard [WW2].

The collection includes:

• Uniforms - from full dress to battle dress, including headdress, shirts, tunics, trousers & footwear.
• Equipment - leather belts, webbing, packs & personal equipment.
• Weapons - including machine-guns, rifles, pistols, swords, bayonets, knives, plus ethnographic items from North Africa & New Zealand [less than 10 items].
• Medals – over 3,000 awards or medals, including seven Victoria Crosses.
• Badges – from silver-gilt shoulder belt plates to WW2 plastic emergency cap badges.
• Other items – range from drums to a tracked Universal Carrier, from a grave cross to a locomotive engine name plate.

The collection also includes an extensive archive though this has now been transferred to the Durham Count Record Office.

Note that much of the collection, with the exception of the weapons, can be ascribed to particular named soldiers and most items donated since the 1970’s form part of an individual soldiers’ collection [eg. medals, cap badge, uniform, services papers, photographs, etc].

Of this entire collection, no more than 10 medal groups are on loan to the museum.

Acquisitions and Disposals

The Museum collects items which:
a) Relate directly to The Durham Light Infantry Regiment and associated units (e.g. The Durham Militia, The Durham Volunteers and The Home Guard), since its formation in 1758.

b) The Museum will also collect social history objects relating to the geographical area of the historic County of Durham, i.e. the area between the Tyne to the north and Tees to the south and bounded on the west by the Pennine watershed. Material will also be collected from those areas immediately adjacent to the historic county which formed major recruiting areas for the DLI during World Wars I and II (e.g. Newcastle and Middlesbrough).

The Museum collects, either by purchase or gift, for display or for storage, the following categories of objects:
a) Items directly relevant to the Durham Light Infantry Regiment (DLI). Material will include medals, photographs, uniforms, silver, memorabilia, weapons and exceptionally vehicles where these items relate directly to the DLI and associated units. All archive material relating to the DLI is accepted by the Trustees. Items of a general military nature will only be collected if they will enhance the displays. Items relating to other regiments will not be collected.

b) Representative examples of items used by families and individuals of the North of England during World Wars I and II in their life at home, at school, at work and relating to the defence of the Home Front. Material collected will include: photographs, prints and engravings, photographic and sound recordings, artistic works (e.g. watercolours, samplers, quilts, mats) books, printed ephemera, clothing and textiles and domestic life items relating to the experience of people living or working within the designated geographical area during the periods 1914-1918 and 1939-1945. Archival documents will be referred to the County Archivist.

Some material from any of the above categories will be collected for educational use, and will be used for handling. Such objects will not be formally accessioned into the collection, but will be recorded on entry to the Museum’s collections. In the case of donations, entry documentation will make clear to the donor the purpose for which the object has been collected.

Acquisitions will be pursued by negotiating gifts, bequests, “in lieu” donations, and purchases. On occasion loans of exceptional material will be accepted for display purposes only.

All acquisition and disposal from collections will take account of the Code of Ethics for Museums (2002) as follows:
a) The Museum will not acquire, whether by purchase, gift, bequest, or exchange, any object or specimen unless the governing body is satisfied that The Museum can acquire a valid title to the item in question, and that in particular it has not been acquired in, or exported from, its country of origin (or any intermediate country in which it may have been legally owned) in violation of that country’s laws. (For the purposes of this paragraph “country of origin” includes the United Kingdom).

b) By definition a museum has a long term purpose and must possess (or intend to acquire) permanent collections in relation to its stated objectives. The governing body accepts the principle that there is a strong presumption against the disposal of any items in The Museum's collection except as set out below.

c) In those cases where The Museum is legally free to dispose of an item (if this is in doubt advice will be sought) it is agreed that any decision to sell or otherwise dispose of material from the collections will be taken only after due consideration. Decisions to dispose of items will not be made with the principal aim of generating funds. Once a decision to dispose of an item has been taken, priority will be given to retaining the item within the public domain and with this in view will be offered first, by exchange, gift or sale to Registered museums before disposal to other interested individuals or organisations is considered.

d) In cases in which an arrangement for the exchange, gift or sale of material is not being made with an individual Registered museum, the museum community at large will be advised of the intention to dispose of material. This will normally be through an announcement in the Museum Association’s Museum Journal and other professional journals if appropriate. The announcement will indicate the number and nature of the specimens or objects involved, and the basis on which the material will be transferred to another institution. A period of at least two months will be allowed for an interest in acquiring the material to be expressed.

e) A decision to dispose of a specimen or object, whether by exchange, sale, gift, or destruction (in the case of an item too badly damaged or deteriorated to be of any use for the purposes of the collections), will be the responsibility of the governing body of The Museum acting on the advice of professional curatorial staff, and not of the curator of the collections acting alone. Full records will be kept of all such decisions and the items involved and proper arrangements made for the preservation and/or transfer, as appropriate, of the documentation relating to the items concerned, including photographic records where practicable.

f) Any monies received by The Museum's governing body from the disposal of items will be applied for the benefit of the collections. This normally means the purchase of further acquisitions but in exceptional cases improvements relating to the care of collections may be justifiable. Advice on these cases may be sought from NEMLAC.

When a museum object has been acquired with the aid of an external funding organisation, permission from that organisation will be sought before the object is deaccessioned or transferred to another museum.

Limitations on Collecting

The Museum is based on the history of The Durham Light Infantry Regiment. The Museum does not have large stores, or staffing resources dedicated to collections management. For these reasons The Museum will not actively collect social history objects to provide a comprehensive record of life in County Durham. Collection will be selective, and of items which illustrate life at home, at school, at work and in activities relating to defence of the Home Front to support exhibitions which recount the history of The Durham Light Infantry Regiment.

Regimental museums, including the DLI Museum, have a long tradition of not collecting items linked to another Regiment. So, if approached by a potential donor with items pertaining to another Regiment, the donor is always helped to make contact with the relevant Regimental museum. There is however one area of overlapping collecting policies, with the military museums with a national remit (namely the Imperial War Museum and the National Army Museum). The potential for duplication or wasted resources is overcome by clear communication through meetings (e.g. annual AMOT conference) and partnership working (e.g. with IWM on oral history recording).

Acquisitions not covered by this policy will only be made in very exceptional circumstances, and then only after proper consideration by the governing body, having regard to the interests of other museums.

The acquisitions and disposal policy will be reviewed every five years, with the next review due in November 2007. Any changes made to this policy and the implications of any changes for the future of existing collections, will be notified to MLA.