By Emer Ní Cheallaigh, Registrar (Acting), National Museum of Ireland (NMI)
The European Registars Group (ERG) held the European Registrars Conference (ERC) from 6-8 November 2024 in Rome, Italy. The conference, which takes place every second year, brings together registrars from private and public museums and galleries across Europe. My colleague Eimear Ashe, the NMI’s Collections Moves Project Manager, and I had an opportunity to attend. Six other members of the Irish Registrars Group were also in attendance. Registrars are responsible for managing the journey of objects in, out and within cultural institutions for the purposes loan, exhibition, treatment and research.
Sustainability, the genesis, development and formal recognition of the profession of Registrar, ethical issues and the work of our Italian Registrar colleagues underpinned this year’s conference theme of Together. While it is difficult to give real insight into every presentation, the following are my particular highlights:
Rematriation
I attended a very moving talk on the rematriation of the Ni’isjoohl memorial pole from National Museums of Scotland to the Nisga’a Nation, Canada. Reasonably familiar with the concepts of restitution and repatriation, rematriation is a term that was new to me. Rematriation was illustrated as a community led process, often led by indigenous community members and emphasises the importance of healing and balance. I was touched by the demonstrated impact on community members by the return of the memorial pole and the care that was taken to facilitate the ‘minding’ of the pole by Nisga’a nation members whilst in transit. Further research into rematriation has provided insight into the many ways that NMI’s Registration Department can support this process at NMI, particularly in terms of improving the quality of our collections data and records.
Development of the registrar profession
We also learned from our Italian colleagues that just this year the profession of Registrar received official recognition from the Italian Ministry of Culture, which was a source of delighted for them and garnered a spirited round of applause. The first formal qualification of Registrar in Italy has also been established at the Accademia Di Belle Arti Aldo Galli where an MA programme on Art Registration is offered. Our colleagues from the UK Registrars Group shared with us an apprentice programme that they have begun which also facilitates both a theoretical and practical insight into the work of the Registrar via two work placements in a UK museum or gallery.
Speed dating!
I was also fortunate to have an opportunity to engage in ERC’s inaugural speed dating session! This session was booked on a first come, first served basis. Experienced registrars were paired up with European colleagues that were newer to the field. Each session lasted 5 minutes, during which time we were assigned a topic for discussion. The topics were designed to be an icebreaker, which given the enthusiasm of the participants, proved unnecessary! On the whole, the session provided an opportunity to share an overview of our respective institutions, collections we manage and our roles, which was fascinating and allowed for an opportunity to carry out some mental benchmarking in terms of the size of team at NMI in the context of the scale of collections that we manage.
I am most grateful to NMI for supporting my attendance at EYC 2024. The conference provided us with opportunity for thought, networking and knowledge sharing across the broad range of registration areas of operation. Speakers and attendees outlined the clear and unambiguous impact of our roles across the cultural sector and provided me with renewed vision for value and development of our profession. I would encourage any budding museum professional to consider a role in registration. Our profession needs you!
To learn more about the work of the NMI’s Registration Department please visit our Registration Department | National Museum of Ireland, to get an overview of the work that we do and the amazing collections we help record, care for, learn about and share.