The following words and terms, when used in this chapter and
the Antiquities Code of Texas, shall have the following meanings unless
the context clearly indicates otherwise.
(1) Accession--means the formal acceptance of a collection
and its recording into the holdings of a curatorial facility and generally
includes a transfer of title. For held-in-trust collections, stewardship
but not title is transferred to the curatorial facility.
(2) Accessions inventory--means an inventory conducted
at the time of accessioning when a collection or historical item is
placed at the designated curatorial facility. It is similar to a baseline
inventory in that it is comprised of the categories represented in
the collection, quantities, and linear feet of documentation as appropriate.
(3) Antiquities--means the tangible aspects of the
past, which relate to human life and culture. Some examples include
objects, written histories, architecture, cultural traditions and
patterns, art forms, and technologies.
(4) Artifact--means an object that has been removed
from an archeological site.
(5) Baseline inventory--means the most basic inventory
done by summary count within general categories (similar to an entry
or accessions inventory).
(6) Cataloging--means assigning an object to an established
classification system and having a record containing identification,
provenience, accession and catalog numbers, and location of that object
in the collection storage area.
(7) Certification--means a process through which a
curatorial facility establishes that it has achieved certain standards
and follows acceptable practices with respect to its collections.
(8) Certified curatorial facility--means a museum or
repository that has been certified by the Commission for the purposes
of curating state-associated collections.
(9) Collection--means an associated set of objects,
samples, records, or documents or an associated set of documents only.
(10) Commission--means the Texas Historical Commission
and its staff.
(11) Conservation--means scientific laboratory process
for cleaning, stabilizing, restoring, and preserving artifacts.
(12) Conservation Survey--means inspection and documentation
by facility staff, of condition of collection objects on an ongoing
basis as part of routine collections management work.
(13) Cultural resource--means any building, site, district,
structure, object, historic shipwreck, data, and locations of historical,
archeological, educational, or scientific interest, including, but
not limited to, prehistoric and historic Native American or aboriginal
campsites, dwellings, and habitation sites, archeological sites of
every character, treasure embedded in the earth, sunken or abandoned
ships and wrecks of the sea or any part of the contents thereof, maps,
records, documents, books, artifacts, and implements of culture in
any way related to the inhabitants' prehistory, history, natural history,
government, or culture. Examples of cultural resources include Native
American mounds and campgrounds, aboriginal lithic resource areas,
early industrial and engineering sites, rock art, early cottage, and
craft industry sites, bison kill sites, cemeteries, battlegrounds,
all manner of historical structures, local historical records, etc.
(14) Curatorial facility--means a museum or repository
that professionally manages collections on a long term basis.
(15) Deaccession--means the permanent removal of an
object or collection from the holdings of a curatorial facility.
(16) Designated curatorial facility--means any curatorial
facility that is holding or seeking to hold any state associated collection
on behalf of the Commission.
(17) Destructive analysis--means destroying all or
a portion of an object or sample to gain specialized information.
For purposes of these rules, it does not include analysis of objects
or samples prior to their being accessioned by a curatorial facility.
(18) Disposal--means the discard of an object or sample
after being recovered and prior to accession, or after deaccession.
(19) Held-in-trust agreement--means the document signed
by the Commission and the designated curatorial facility that provides
for the transfer of stewardship to the curatorial facility for the
state-associated collection, provides the state-associated collection's
accession number and accessions inventory, and notes any conditions
or restrictions.
(20) Held-in-trust collection--means those state-associated
collections under the authority of the Texas Historical Commission
that are placed in a curatorial facility for care and management;
stewardship is transferred to that curatorial facility but not ownership.
(21) Inventory--means a physically-checked, itemized
list of the objects in a curatorial facility's holdings. Itemized
refers to having some sort of categorization, whether it be object-by-object
or some type of grouping. Inventory is usually performed by numerical
count, but weight may be considered in addition to or instead of a
count, where it may be appropriate.
(22) Museum--means a legally organized not-for-profit
institution, essentially educational in nature; having a formally
stated mission; with a professionally trained staff that uses and
interprets objects for the public through regularly scheduled programs
and exhibits; with a program of documentation, care, and use of collection
or tangible objects; and having a program of maintenance and presentation
of exhibits.
(23) Political subdivision--means a local government
entity created and operating under the laws of this state, including
a city, county, school district, or special district created under
the Texas Constitution, Article III, Section 52(b)(1) or (2), or Article
XVI, Section 59.
(24) Preventive conservation--means to maintain the
collections in stable condition through preventive maintenance, condition
surveys, environmental controls, and pest management.
(25) Public lands--means non-federal public lands that
are owned or controlled by the State of Texas or any of its political
subdivisions, including the tidelands, submerged land, and the bed
of the sea within the jurisdiction of the State of Texas.
(26) Relocation inventory--means a physically-checked,
itemized list of a specific subset of objects that have been moved
from their permanent location within the holdings of the curatorial
facility.
(27) Repository--means a permanent, not-for-profit
educational or research-oriented agency or institution, having a professionally
trained staff, that provides in-perpetuity legal housing and curation
of collections.
(28) Significance--means a trait attributable to sites,
buildings, structures and objects of historical, architectural, and
archeological (cultural) value which are eligible for designation
to State Antiquities Landmark status and protection under the Antiquities
Code of Texas. Similarly, a trait attributable to properties included
in or determined eligible for inclusion in the National Register of
Historic Places.
(29) Site--means any place or location containing physical
evidence of human activity. Examples of sites include: the location
of prehistoric or historic occupations or activities, a group or district
of buildings or structures that share a common historical context
or period of significance, and designed landscapes such as parks and
gardens.
(30) Spot-check inventory--means an organized location
search to produce a physically-checked, itemized list of a predetermined
subset of objects for which the curatorial facility is responsible.
(31) State-associated collections--means the collections
owned by the State and under the authority of the Texas Historical
Commission. This includes the following:
(A) Permitted collections--means collections that are
the result of work governed by the Texas Antiquities Code of Texas
on land or under waters belonging to the State of Texas or any political
subdivision of the State requiring the issuance of a permit by the
Commission.
(B) Non-permitted collections--means collections that
are the result of work governed by the Antiquities Code on land or
under waters belonging to the State of Texas or any political subdivision
of the State conducted by Commission personnel without the issuance
of a permit.
(C) Purchased collections--means collections that are
the result of the acquisition of significant historical items by the
Commission through Texas Historical Artifacts Acquisition Program
or use of other State funds.
(D) Donated collections--means collections that are
the result of a gift, donation, or bequest to the Commission.
(E) Court-action collections--means collections that
are awarded to the Commission by a court through confiscation of illegally-obtained
archeological artifacts or any other material that may be awarded
to the Commission by a court of law.
(32) State Antiquities Landmark--means an archeological
site, archeological collection, ruin, building, structure, cultural
landscape, site, engineering feature, monument or other object, or
district that is eligible to be designated as a landmark or is already
officially designated as a landmark.
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