Hello Kelsy,

 

                Short of locking the door and having no space outside to leave a box I don’t think you’ll be able to get away from people popping up, especially if the Museum is closer than the dump. It’s something most or all of us deal with. We have a very similar 30 day stipulation in out temporary deposit form but I’ve yet to really test it. One thing I’ve added over the years is an additional checkbox to add an extra layer of protection if we dispose of something. It reads, “If items are not accepted:”, and then has two check boxes. One reads, “Please contact, the ‘Owner(s)’, to return the items.”, and the other reads “Please dispose of as seen fit by the Museum, including destruction.” When someone drops something off I specifically read out this section. The ones that check the second box are explicitly stating we can dispose of items and covers all those people that don’t have an interest in having the items returned. Should they change their mind down the road I can show them the form where they said agreed we could dispose of the item. If the potential donor checks the first box it falls back on the 30 day stipulation which kind of brings you back to square one but they are more likely to pick up the items anyway and not have it get to that. Informally my rule is 6 months to disposal, despite saying 30 days, I’ll usually send two or three letters before disposing of it.

 

                Hopefully that helps!

 

William Shepherd

Collections Officer

Swift Current Museum

44 Robert Street West

Swift Current, Saskatchewan

S9H 4M9

Phone: 306-778-4815

Fax: 306-778-4818

 

Archives: http://sain.scaa.sk.ca/collections/swift-current-museum

Library: https://www.librarything.com/profile/SwiftCurrentMuseum

Website: http://www.swiftcurrent.ca

 

From: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Kelsy Sinelnikov
Sent: June 27, 2018 8:48 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Unsolicited Object Donations

 

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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