Revisiting Basic Condition Reporting: Updated Insights and Digital Methods

This webinar revisits and updates the popular 2016 Connecting to Collections Care program on Basic Condition Reporting with the new edition of Basic Condition Reporting (2022) offering both refreshed guidance and new digital approaches for today’s collections professionals. A clear, well-structured condition report remains essential for loans, exhibitions, planning, and day-to-day collections care—and this updated session brings together practical strategies and modern tools to support your work.

• Heather Culligan will begin with an overview of core tips, guidelines, and best practices for general condition reporting, grounding participants in the fundamentals of clear and consistent documentation.
• Tommie Rodgers will then introduce her chapter, Digital Condition Reporting, sharing digital tools and workflows that support efficient, registrar-friendly reporting.
• Katherine Steiner will conclude with examples from her institution, demonstrating how digital tools can streamline the condition reporting process and help staff move quickly and confidently through assessments.

Whether you participated in the original 2016 webinar or are new to the topic, this updated session provides practical, actionable insights to strengthen and modernize your condition reporting practices.

Speakers

• Heather Culligan, Registrar and Collections Manager, The Ashley Gibson Barnett Museum of Art at Florida Southern College 
  • Heather Culligan is the Registrar & Collections Manager at The AGB Museum of Art at Florida Southern College. She has over fifteen years’ experience in museum registration and collections management, overseeing collections in a variety of institutions including history museums, historic buildings and sites, and an academic art museum. Heather teaches Museum Collections Management at Florida Southern College, and previously co-instructed Collections Management in Museums at the University of West Georgia. She is a previous board member of SERA and continues to be an active member of both SERA and ARCS.
• Tommie Rodgers, Registrar, Lauren Rogers Museum of Art 
  • Tommie Rodgers has worked as registrar at the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art for most of her 35 years at the museum.  Over a century old, the museum is home to a varied collection including paintings, works on paper, Native American baskets, sculpture, silver, and contemporary mixed media pieces.  She manages logistics for a regular rotation of traveling exhibitions that augment the permanent collection or introduce new artists and materials.  Rodgers’ works alongside the building superintendent to manage best care practices for the aging building, building additions, and gallery renovation projects as they relate to best care of the art objects and energy sustainability.         
• Katherine Steiner, Chief Registrar, Mint Museum 
  • Katherine Steiner has worked at the Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, NC since 2000, now serving as Chief Registrar. She has a Masters Degree in Liberal Studies with a Certificate in Museum Studies from the University of North Carolina Greensboro and is a proud Jekyll Island Management Institute graduate. With two facilities and three special exhibition spaces, the Mint hosts approximately eight special exhibitions a year and is an active collecting institution, so she and her team have learned to embrace expediency in condition reporting.