The National Air and Space Museum’s office of the Registrar is responsible for the generation, maintenance and oversight of records and documentation related to the museum’s 70,000+ object collection. The office also manages the Museum’s loan program, which both lends and borrows objects for exhibition and research.
Registration staff oversee both physical records and digital data, with the goal of providing accurate and comprehensive information to support research and exhibits. The office maintains all formal and legal documentation associated with NASM's collections and establishes standards addressing the generation and retention of collections information.
The office oversees the accession and deaccession of collections material and the tracking of non-collections material used in exhibitions and programming.
The office works with a range of Smithsonian units to establish and enforce policies and procedures that ensure that the collections are collected, documented, maintained and (when appropriate) disposed of in accordance with the highest ethical standards of the museum profession.