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This collection and documentation policy forms the framework for the collection and documentation work carried out by Østsjællands Museum within the framework of its museum activities.

The collection and documentation work at Østsjællands Museum is carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Museum Act and in accordance with the guidelines of the Danish Agency for Culture.

The collection and documentation work at Østsjællands Museum is carried out in accordance with ICOM's museum ethics rules.

The purpose, organization and form of Østsjællands Museum's collection and documentation work is specified in the museum's Strategy for safeguarding natural and cultural heritage. Specific initiatives and priorities are defined in the museum's four-year work programs and in project descriptions.

Vision: The museum creates wonder and new perspectives on life and history for everyone through research-based stories told vividly and relevantly based on authentic locations.

The objective of Østsjællands Museum's safeguarding of natural and cultural heritage is to ensure authentic and well-documented natural and cultural heritage for posterity through a research-based creation of representative collections and documentation, which through research and dissemination can develop and contribute significant new knowledge and insight within the museum's areas of responsibility with a view to the museum's task performance as well as to contribute to a relevant national and international safeguarding of natural and cultural heritage.

Østsjællands Museum has identified four special focus areas for its collection and documentation work. The museum's collection and documentation takes place within these four areas.

The focus area "The geology of limestone"
The focus area is based on the fact that within the geographical area of responsibility of East Zealand Museum there are Denmark's largest limestone sites, all of which are of international standing, including Stevns Klint, which is a candidate for UNESCO World Heritage. At the same time, the museum has unique, world-class collections of fossils related to the limestone deposits.

The objectives of the museum's efforts in the focus area are to safeguard, explore and communicate natural heritage through objects and permanent natural heritage in a national and international perspective. Through these efforts, the museum wants to contribute to the public's experience and understanding of the geological deposits and contribute to the public's realization of the origin and mutability of the Earth and life.

The collection within the focus area includes geological materials - and especially fossils - from the museum's area of responsibility. The documentation includes geological structures in the museum's area of responsibility. To a limited extent, a perspective collection and documentation is carried out.

The focus area "The Cold War"
The focus area is based on the fact that Stevns Fort was expanded throughout the Cold War and with its five parts is characteristic of the Danish military defense throughout the period. The museum's geographical area of operation also includes a number of other representative military facilities from the period.

The objectives of the museum's efforts in this focus area are to safeguard, explore and communicate the cultural heritage of the Cold War through authentic objects and cultural environments in a local, regional, national and international perspective. Through these efforts, the museum wants to contribute to the public's experience and understanding of the Cold War's significance for our society and contribute to the public's realization that the Cold War was ubiquitous and affected everyone.

The collection within the focus area includes authentic objects and materials from Stevnsfort and from the military and civilian preparedness in the museum's area of responsibility. The documentation includes especially narrative materials and cultural environments within the museum's area of responsibility or related to the museum's area of responsibility. A limited amount of national and international perspective collection and documentation is carried out.

The focus area "The Cultural History of Lime"
The focus area is justified by the fact that the unique geology of the area of responsibility with large limestone deposits has given rise to a unique cultural history, where the importance of local mining is an exceptionally clear element in local industry, architecture, infrastructure, tourism and coastal history etc.

The objectives of the museum's efforts in the focus area are to safeguard, explore and communicate the cultural history of lime through objects and authentic cultural environments in a local, regional and national perspective. Through this effort, the museum wants to contribute to the public's experience and understanding of the importance of lime quarrying for the local community as a mirror of the national social development in recent times and contribute to the public's insight into, among other things, industrial and building history.

The collection within the focus area includes particularly authentic cultural-historical objects and materials from. The documentation includes especially narrative materials and cultural environments within the museum's area of responsibility or related to the museum's area of responsibility. To a limited extent, regional and national perspective collection and documentation is carried out.

The area "Recent history in a local perspective"
The museum has a collection consisting mainly of cultural-historical objects from the 1700s onwards, with an emphasis on the period 1850-1950 and the geographical area covering the current Stevns and Faxe municipalities. The objects originate from market town, estate, rural and station town environments and consist of tools, household utensils, tools and household goods. The collection is presented by Stevns Museum and Haslev Museum in particular. The museum owns a school building from the 1600s (Rasmus Svendsen's school, Faxe) and the interior of a rented school building from the 1700s (Lille Heddinge Rytterskole).

The aim of the museum's work is to safeguard and communicate the area's local cultural history to a primarily local audience - including schools as a contribution to a local sense of identity.

There is currently only a very limited collection in this area. The documentation within the area is done especially with regard to cultural environments within the museum's area of responsibility.

The collection and documentation at Østsjællands Museum is done in order to supplement the museum's various collection types.

• Natural and cultural heritage collections, which include artifacts and associated documentation materials to safeguard the natural and cultural heritage for posterity within the museum's areas of responsibility.
• Dissemination collections, which include artifacts and other materials for the purpose of dissemination or perspective on the museum's focus areas.
• Research collections, which include geological or other natural history materials used in museum research.
• Documentation collections, which include documentation materials for the purpose of putting the museum's research and communication into perspective.

Used collections, which include artifacts and other materials that are actively used in the museum's conservation or presentation work.

The museum prioritizes research or survey-based active outreach collecting that can ensure the collection of authentic, expressive and communicative objects and documentation materials within the museum's focus areas and special focus areas. In this collection, special emphasis is placed on ensuring that the collection supports the museum's research and communication objectives.

The museum prioritizes research or survey-based collection activities that can contribute to a relevant national or international perspective on the museum's focus areas and contribute to a nationally or internationally significant cultural or nature conservation effort that has a clear research or communication aim. Such activities are initiated in dialog and possibly in collaboration with other relevant specialist museums and authorities.

Before collecting, the museum must explore the possibilities of supplementing or completely replacing the intended collection through its documentation work.

Prior to collection, the scientific and educational value of the objects must be compared with an economic assessment in relation to the expected costs of conservation, preservation and storage for posterity.

Effects and documentation materials may only be received by - or by prior agreement with - the relevant curator at the museum.

Inclusion of items in the museum's natural and cultural heritage collections can only be done with the approval of the museum director.

The museum can only accept anonymously submitted items and materials in special cases.

The museum can only accept items or materials that are subject to clauses in special cases.

When collecting, the museum must ensure that the collected objects have legal access according to Danish law and international conventions on the protection of natural and cultural heritage, and that the provenance of the objects has been obtained in such a way that illegal material is introduced into the collections.

In connection with Østsjællands Museum's collection and documentation of natural heritage, a number of special conditions apply.

When collecting or receiving natural history materials that can be considered Danefæ, these materials are passed on to the Natural History Museum of Denmark in accordance with the provisions of the Museum Act.

In its research-based collection and documentation work within its natural history areas of responsibility, the museum strives to be actively outreach within the declared collection programs. Due to the specific nature and methods of the work area, a targeted active outreach approach to collecting and documentation is difficult.

In its natural history collection, the museum allows a higher degree of passive collecting of materials offered to the museum by individuals or authorities. However, the museum ensures that this collection is essentially within the framework of the museum's stated collection programs.

When passively collecting natural heritage, the museum must further ensure that the collected materials have legal access.

The museum may create temporary collections of natural history materials for research or documentation purposes, which will be discarded after research and documentation is completed.

The documentation and registration work within the natural heritage must be carried out in agreement with the Natural History Museum of Denmark and in accordance with current international standards for documentation of the fixed and movable natural heritage.

In connection with Østsjællands Museum's collection and documentation of cultural heritage, a number of special conditions apply.

Active collecting
The museum bases its new cultural history collecting on clearly formulated and delimited active outreach collecting programs that support the museum's cultural preservation and communication within the museum's declared focus areas. The museum's collection and documentation must, as far as possible, be actively outreach.

Active collecting can consist of actual outreach activities where the museum requests citizens or authorities to hand over specific individual objects or groups of individual objects as well as documentation materials within the museum's stated collection programs.

Active collecting can also consist of requests from citizens or authorities for specific objects or types of objects and documentation materials that support cultural preservation, research and the dissemination of declared collection programs. The museum will typically be offered objects by private individuals or authorities who contact the museum, and the museum will assess whether the individual object is relevant to the museum's collections in relation to the museum's collection programs.

Finally, active collecting can consist of outreach activities in order to identify (earmark) desired objects or documentation materials that the museum wants to document in situ and possibly at a later date wants to include in its collections in order to supplement declared collection programs.

Passive collecting
Passive collecting is defined as the offer by private individuals or authorities to hand over objects or documentation materials without the museum having previously sought out or requested the object in question as part of its stated collection programs.

When offering objects or materials that can be considered passive collecting, the museum will assess on a case-by-case basis whether the materials in question support or add perspective to the museum's stated collecting programs. Such materials will only be included in the museum's collections if they are included in the collection programs.

In special cases, the museum may be offered materials that can be considered so central to cultural preservation, research or communication of the museum's stated focus areas that it may justify the formulation of a new collection program. The formulation of new collection programs can only take place on the recommendation of the curator and with the approval of the museum director.

Exceptions are offers to hand over materials that the museum immediately assesses to be Danefæ or Danekræ, and which the museum must always receive with a view to further transfer to relevant authorities.

The museum wants to reduce the amount of passive collecting in general

The Cold War
Within the museum's focus area and stated collection programs regarding the Cold War, a number of special conditions also apply.

The Museum may receive objects and materials that do not have legal access or that are handed over to the Museum anonymously because they are covered by the property of the State or a third power or by applicable legislation concerning national security. By agreement, the Museum requests the Danish Defence Materiel Service, the Danish Emergency Management Agency or the Danish Defence Intelligence Service to transfer ownership of such effects or materials.

The museum may receive objects or materials that are subject to clauses for reasons of national security, Denmark's relations with foreign powers or Denmark's compliance with international conventions and agreements. Such clauses will typically include an obligation to return the item if it is discarded or a requirement for ongoing supervision. Documentation work in the field of cultural history must be carried out in accordance with the Danish Museum Documentation Standard and in accordance with applicable international standards for documentation of the fixed and movable cultural heritage.

In its safeguarding of natural and cultural heritage, Østsjællands Museum contributes to national and international nature and culture conservation. The museum therefore coordinates the delimitation and formulation of its focus areas and collection programs with relevant Danish and international museums and authorities in order to optimize the museums' professional resource utilization and to counteract double collecting.

In this context, the museum enters into formalized collaborations and partnerships around research, collection, conservation and communication within the relevant focus areas.

These are stated in the museum's work plan and strategy for safeguarding natural and cultural heritage.

This collection and documentation policy has been approved by the director of Østsjællands Museum and was last revised in September 2013.

The collection and documentation policy is revised as needed to reflect current requirements and guidelines at all times. The policy is also revised in accordance with the revision of the museum's strategic planning.