Stephanie,
I must concur with many of those who have already spoken. We have had
this happen before due to the sometime horrific record keeping that was
done in the museum's pre-professional staff (near 30) years.
There is not easy way forward in these situations, but it is really
important that before you do anything you determine, why you are trying
to clear this up and what are the political/legal issues that surround
the object? Often, it is our desire to "fix" old mistakes that motivate
us to move forward, but we need to determine if our attempts could cause
other problems or issues.
1) Per your scenario, this is currently an internal issue. Although
someone has claimed ownership in the past, no one is currently asking
for the object. You seem to be trying to deal with this object before
the issue arises again. So, DO NOT contact the claimant yet! This will
just bring the problem to the fore front again and if not solved quickly
could open up legal and PR issues you do not want.
2) Obviously, there is a name associated with the record although "no
paperwork exists" so you will need to thoroughly search EVERY
collections, correspondence, exhibit and administration file for
reference to the object. During our last issue, information was finally
located in the Administrative Assistants files. Also, if your
organization takes items to the Board or has a newsletter, look through
those for mention of the object.
3) Probably, at some point, this issue came up with one or more Board
Members who have said "I thought that came from ..." Try to meet with
that Board member(s) and find out why they thought that and as others
have mentioned look through old photographs, talk to long-time staff (at
any level) and previous staff if possible. Make sure that they
understand that you are trying to "professionalize" or "update" your
files and not start rumors about object mishandling or other problems.
4) If after that you still don't have anything, then contact the
possible institution to see if their claim has any validity and see if
they have any paperwork. Without paperwork, they are in the same boat as
you. You may not want to revel what is going on, just tell them you are
trying to solve an issue and their name came up during your
investigation for information. Never revel more than necessary, you
don't want to start problems. The object may have been transferred to
you or the donor may have had it on loan to them before placing it on
loan with you.
5) If they don't have anything, you will want to discuss with
administration what you will do next. Probably, you will want to follow
your abandoned property laws, in some states you cannot start the
process unless you want to terminate the loan. Do you? If not, you may
have to wait for a claimant to come forward again. Why go looking for
them? Unless the object needs something or you want to get rid of the
object, you will want to weigh the costs and time that searching for
someone while incur and the political/ public relating issues also
involved.
6) If you do either search for the original owner or their heirs or they
show back up trying to claim the object, remember that they must show
proof of sole ownership before you turn it over. If you can not make a
determination or its not clear, then let your lawyer handle it from
there.
This is not an easy issue to deal with, always remember that its not as
simple as "finding the owner," your search could open other issues for
the museum. You will want your administrative staff to know what you
are doing and where you are in the process so they are prepared for any
issues or problems also.
Hope this helps,
Tracie Evans
Collections Manager
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Stephanie Rohwer
Sent: Sunday, March 04, 2007 11:28 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Question about Long-Term Loans
Hello everyone,
Like Dawn, who posted on Friday, I am doing an assignment for the same
collections management class where we were given a hypothetical
situation
that we have to decide on our best course of action. My situation
involves
a long-term loan with no paperwork. The lender is known and a
descendant
has attempted in the past to claim the object, who has since "gone
missing"
in recent years. To complicate the issue further, the Board of Trustees
believes the object is owned by another organization, who is loaning the
object, not this descendant. Since there is a lack of paperwork to
accompany the loan, one can't be sure of ownership. My approach is
going to
be to search for the descendant in order to make contact with him or her
and
determine clear title. In general, I was wondering what would be your
best
course of action but mainly, what advice could you all offer as to how
to
deal with the Board?
Thank you all for your help, in advance. I posted here last semester
with a
question for an assignment and all of your answers were extremely
helpful.
Have a great week,
Stephanie Rohwer
student of Tufts University Museum Studies Program
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