The Historical Society with the historic site I used to work at had a Museum
Country Store where they sold antiques on consignment.  We would to have to
ask callers if they were interested in putting their antique on consignment
or donating it the museum.  It was kind of like one arm of the Society-the
store competing against the other arm-collections of the museum.   Since I
did not work for the Historical Society, I had no say in the merchandise
they sold.  I did make sure that prospective donor new that we did not sell
items from the collection.  People still were often confused and feared Aunt
Millie's sewing machine was going to be sold.

Towards the end of my tenure at the museum, the store did not bring in the
revenue it had when it had a volunteer store manager.  The Society asked me
what I would do with the space, and I responded that I would turn into a
rotating exhibit gallery with a small museum store in the front.  I helped
secured funding to turn the store into a gallery space.  From what I gather,
they have had more success attracting visitors with the changing exhibits
and selling related museum merchandise geared to the shows.

Susan English
Executive Director
Joliet Area Historical Museum
204 N. Ottawa St.
Joliet, Illinois  60432
(815) 723-5201 ext. 222
www.jolietmuseum.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Todd Bothel
Sent: Friday, September 16, 2005 9:37 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Gift Shop Antiques

This is a question regarding gift shops. We are in a stage of revamping 
our gift shop and the director, several board members and volunteers want 
to add antiques and other historic items to our inventory. It seems that 
we want to change the gift shop into an antique store similar to our 
city's historic shopping district. We are a history museum that tells the 
story of our community and we also have a historic house museum. All of 
our collection items are historic and "antique."

My question deals with some ethical issues. Is it proper for a history 
museum to sell historic objects in its gift shop? I thought that I had 
seen somewhere that reproductions were o.k. but not the genuine article. I 
know at a former museum that I worked, we sold Native American items but 
they were all reproductions. How would the public perceive that we are not 
selling off our collection objects?

Second, if I, the curator, pass on the object for inclusion into the 
museum's collection, is it then right for the director to request that the 
objects be donated for sale in the gift shop? Again, I think we are 
crossing an ethical line.

Any help that you all can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

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