Loss, destruction, replacement

Staff record a loss or destruction as a material event, investigate the circumstances, contact the responsible custodian under the agreed procedure. They review insurance or other arrangements, distinguish evidence about the event from uncertain reconstruction, update access and status.

A scan, photograph, written account may survive. Staff can retain permitted material while acknowledging the physical discontinuity. A replacement camera or replica receives a separate identifier, linked to the earlier possession and decision. Participants may attribute continuing meaning to the replacement, but the material history differs.

Fragmentation or partial replacement requires a more specific account. Staff record remaining parts, new components, the intervention. Material identity concerns this practical continuity. Institutional closure and custodial agreements specify responsibility for returning or relocating actual possessions rather than relying on surviving descriptions.