I just read this message now, as I have been
catching-up on my e-mails after being at a conference
all last week.
I guess my main question has to be: who, if anybody,
has been harmed here?
I agree that the docent had no authority to donate
anything **on behalf of your museum** [or **on
behalf** of any museum, for that matter, if he does
not have a position of authority with the specific
museum in question].
That said, what is the harm of another museum
accepting and displaying the artifacts if your museum
no longer has use for them? Why do you think it is
better to destroy the artifacts, when other museums
and audiences may benefit from them?
gaw
--- PJE Genealogy <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2006 13:04:03 -0500
From: "PJE Genealogy" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Strange situation
To: [log in to unmask]
> This morning I was informed that one of our docents
> took material that we
> had deaccessioned and donated it to another museum.
> I have a copy of the
> donation acceptance form from the other museum and
> it lists our museum and
> museum director on the form. Neither our board nor
> our director had any
> knowledge about this, much less approved it. The
> materials were
> deaccessioned in August of 2005 because they were
> determined to not belong
> in our collection (the materials were stories and
> drawings from an eldery
> gentleman; the historical accuracy of the materials
> could not be verified).
> Because of the content of the the materials and the
> fact that the donor sent
> numerous other institutions similar materials, we
> decided to dispose of the
> materials via destruction/trash. Our docent picked
> the materials out of the
> trash before they found their way to the landfill
> because he felt that maybe
> they had some value. The reasons for deaccessioning
> were explained to him
> and he seemed to agree and was told to return the
> materials to the trash.
> Now, more than a year later, he has donated these
> materials, seemingly on
> our museum's behalf, to another museum a couple of
> hours away.
>
> I was flabbergasted when I found out and am not
> really sure what the
> repercussions are for our museum. I'm pretty
> confident that he did not do
> anything illegal (the materials were in the trash,
> though the trash was
> still inside, if that means anything). Had we known
> that this was going to
> happen we would have thorough destroyed the
> materials rather than just trash
> them, but given the amount and the fact that they
> were covered in duct tape
> (among other things) it would have taken our very
> small staff a lot of time.
> We learned our lesson there. It's just such an
> absurd situation that I'm not
> sure what to make of it. The docent definitely did
> not have the authority to
> donate the materials to another organization on our
> museum's behalf. How
> does this affect both us and the other museum? Any
> thoughts on this?
gaw
Glenn A. Walsh
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