Reporter 4/2/98: Report of the Faculty Board of Earth Sciences and Geography on the Museums in the Department of Earth Sciences

Report of the Faculty Board of Earth Sciences and Geography on the Museums in the Department of Earth Sciences

The FACULTY BOARD OF EARTH SCIENCES AND GEOGRAPHY beg leave to report to the University as follows:

1. The present Department of Earth Sciences was created in 1980 by the amalgamation of the three former Departments of Geodesy and Geophysics, Geology, and Mineralogy and Petrology. As a result of this amalgamation, there are in the present Department two separate museums, viz. the Sedgwick Museum of Geology and the Museum of Mineralogy and Petrology (the latter carries the formal title of the 'Museums of Mineralogy and Petrology', to emphasize that it contains a number of separate collections). These museums form an integral part of the Department.

2. The Sedgwick Museum of Geology was established as a memorial to Adam Sedgwick, Woodwardian Professor of Geology from 1818 to 1873, with funds raised by public subscription; the building was opened in 1904. The Museum of Mineralogy and Petrology is based on the nineteenth-century collections acquired under successive Professors of Mineralogy; it incorporates the recently opened Whewell Gallery of Minerals. In practice the various collections of these museums together form a 'museum complex', comprising buildings on the Downing Site, at High Cross, and at Madingley Rise.

3. A detailed account of these museums was given in the recent survey of the University's museums published by the Joint Museums Committee (Reporter, 1994-95, p. 583). The collections contain an enormous number of specimens (about 1·2 million), comprising fossils, rocks, thin sections, minerals, building stones, and ornamental stones, together with an associated library. Much of this material is of great historical importance; it includes Dr John Woodward's own collection, which was bequeathed to the University in 1728 and was significantly augmented by Adam Sedgwick in the nineteenth century, together with the collections of Darwin, Sedgwick, Lyell, Mary Anning, and other nineteenth-century scientists.

4. The Faculty Board consider that, while the several collections are distinct and need specialists to oversee their curation, there is no reason to retain the present organizational structure, and they propose that the existing museums should be amalgamated to form a single unit which would be named the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences. They propose that the new museum should be under the direction of a single administrative head, to be styled the Director, who would be responsible to the Head of the Department. The Directorship would be held by a University officer in the Department of Earth Sciences, and would be tenable for periods of five years at a time; the Director would be eligible for reappointment.

5. There is at present an office of Curator of the Sedgwick Museum; this is a substantive office, which is not tenable with any other University office. No change is proposed in the arrangements relating to this office, except that provision would be made to allow the Curator (like any other officer in the Department) to hold the Directorship.

6. The establishment of the Department also includes an office entitled Curator of the Museums of Mineralogy and Petrology, which is currently held in conjunction with a University Lectureship; the present holder is Dr G. A. Chinner. There is no stipend attached to this office, but allowance is made for the holder's curatorial work in the allocation of teaching duties. It is proposed that this office should continue, under the title Curator of Mineralogy and Petrology, as an office in the Sedgwick Museum. To provide similar expertise in other areas it is proposed to make provision for additional Curatorships to be established by the General Board on the recommendation of the Faculty Board, on the same terms as the Curatorship of Mineralogy and Petrology.

7. The Faculty Board are satisfied that the revised arrangements described above can be introduced within existing resources.

8. The individual members of staff whose offices are affected by the present proposals have been consulted and have agreed to concur in what is proposed.

9. The Faculty Board recommend:

That the Sedgwick Museum of Geology be retitled the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, and that the regulations for the Sedgwick Museum and for the Curator of the Museums of Mineralogy and Petrology be replaced, with effect from 1 January 1998, by the regulations set out in the Annex to this Report.

20 January 1998

TIM BAYLISS-SMITH, Chairman	P. F. FRIEND	CLIVE OPPENHEIMER
N. S. ARNOLD	T. J. B. HOLLAND	S. A. T. REDFERN
R. J. BENNETT	I. N. MCCAVE	K. S. RICHARDS
HARRY ELDERFIELD	D. MCKIE	A. J. WORSDALE

ANNEX

SEDGWICK MUSEUM OF EARTH SCIENCES

1. There shall be the following University offices on the staff of the Museum:

(a)	the office of Director of the Museum;
(b)	the office of Curator of the Museum or Senior Assistant Curator of the Museum or Assistant Curator of the Museum, as the General Board shall from time to time determine;
(c)	such other offices of Curator, designated Curator of a specified collection, as the General Board shall from time to time determine.

2. (a) The office of Director of the Museum shall be held in conjunction with another University office in the Department of Earth Sciences.

(b) The office of Curator of the Museum may be held in conjunction with the office of Director, but shall not be held in conjunction with any other University office. The office of Senior Assistant Curator or Assistant Curator of the Museum shall not be held in conjunction with any other University office.

(c) Any office of Curator of a specified collection shall be held in conjunction with another University office in the Department of Earth Sciences.

3.(a) Appointments and reappointments to the office of Director of the Museum shall be made by the Appointments Committee for the Faculty of Earth Sciences and Geography, and shall be for such periods not exceeding five years at a time as the Appointments Committee shall determine.

(b) Appointments and reappointments to the office of Curator, Senior Assistant Curator, or Assistant Curator of the Museum or to any office of Curator of a specified collection shall be made by the Appointments Committee for the Faculty of Earth Sciences and Geography with the Director as an additional member for this purpose, and shall be for such periods not exceeding five years at a time as the Appointments Committee shall determine; provided that the General Board shall have power, on the recommendation of the Appointments Committee, to authorize the reappointment to the retiring age of a person who has held either the office of Curator of the Museum or the office of Senior Assistant Curator of the Museum continuously for not less than five years.

4. The Director shall be responsible to the Head of the Department of Earth Sciences for the management of the Museum and for such other duties relating to the Museum as shall be determined by the Head of the Department from time to time.

5. The Curator, Senior Assistant Curator, or Assistant Curator of the Museum shall be responsible through the Director to the Head of the Department for the cataloguing, maintenance, and conservation of the collections of the Museum, for making arrangements for their display, and for making them available for study and research. The holders of other offices on the staff of the Museum shall assist in these duties.

6. If the holder of a University office on the staff of the Museum is a University Lecturer or a University Assistant Lecturer, the performance of the officer's duties in the Museum shall be taken into account by the Faculty Board of Earth Sciences and Geography in determining the amount of the officer's teaching work so that the total of that work, together with work in the Museum, is within the limits fixed by the General Board under Statute D, XVII, 8.

7. The holder of an office of Curator or Senior Assistant Curator or Assistant Curator of the Museum shall undertake at the request of the Faculty Board of Earth Sciences and Geography, without additional payment, such teaching as the Faculty Board may consider desirable, having regard to the due performance of the officer's duties in the Museum. The amount of teaching given by such an officer on behalf of a College or Colleges shall not exceed six hours a week.

8. The hours of attendance in the Museum of members of the staff shall be determined by the Faculty Board of Earth Sciences and Geography on the recommendation of the Head of the Department of Earth Sciences.

9. The holders of University offices on the staff of the Museum shall be members of the Faculty of Earth Sciences and Geography under Statute C, III, 3(b).

Table of Contents