Hi,

We encourage donors to contact us in advance of a drop off, but unsolicited
donations happen pretty regularly for us.  When we have items that we
cannot accept  and the donor does not want returned, we ask them to give us
permission in writing to dispose of them as we choose.  We do accept
permission via email.  We are also in a state with an abandoned property
law, although we have yet to rely heavily on that.

Best of luck,
Shannon


Shannon Hsu
Curator of Collections
Shawnee Town
City of Shawnee
913-742-6422



Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]> wrote on 06/27/2018
09:47:48 AM:

> From: Kelsy Sinelnikov <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: 06/27/2018 09:52 AM
> Subject: Unsolicited Object Donations
> Sent by: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
>
> Hello,
>
> I work for a small history museum and we often have people drop by
> with items they wish to donate. We have a temporary deposit form
> that we have them fill out and this states that they are required to
> pick up the item within 30 days if it is not accepted into the
> collection. However, they often state "if you don't want them that's
> fine, but I don't want them back," and that they will not return
> even if we notify them. This creates an issue of storage and
> disposal for us. We would like to discourage people dropping off
> donations without prior contact with a staff member.
>
> I was wondering about other museums approach to people dropping by
> with items unannounced.  I am working on a website page regarding
> donation, but would love to hear other ideas for discouraging this
> and policies regarding drop offs.
>
> Thank you!
>
> Kelsy
>

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