I wouldn't consider a note by an employee enough to make it your
property.  Even if you can prove the daughter gave verbal permission,
you can't be sure it was hers to give.  The lender may have died and
left the property to someone else.  The lender may be alive and have an
ongoing dispute with the daughter.  The first step in obtaining clear
title is to be sure the donor has a legitimate right to give it away.
If you had the lender's word you'd have a stronger, though still not
solid, case.

The correct way to do this would be to follow abandoned property law.
It varies by state but typically involves publishing a notice in local
papers and waiting a period of 7-10 years.  After that time you can
claim it as your own and dispose of it. In the meantime you can go ahead
with removal from the permanent collection (you really shouldn't have
accessioned it without clear title either), but you'll still need to
physically maintain it.

Another alternative would be to try to contact the original lender or a
family member to verify that it was a donation.  The problem you'll run
into there is they'll want to know what you're up to and may be offended
if they learn you're getting rid of it.  

The best alternative is probably to treat it as a loan, contact the
original lender or legally entitled family member and return it.  It may
cause hard feelings but at least you'll be covering yourself.  

If you go ahead and get rid of it, you might be fine, but you might not.
You'd be surprised at how many donors and relatives pop up over the
years looking for their "stuff".  It's bad enough if you disposed of a
donation.  If they whip out paperwork proving it was a loan you'll have
all kinds of trouble. 

If you do decide to go ahead anyway, at least carefully document why
you're removing it and what exactly you're doing with it.  You'll be in
a better position if you can prove it was in extremely poor condition or
something like that.

Kristine Zickuhr
Registrar
Wisconsin Veterans Museum

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of George Harris
Sent: Friday, September 07, 2007 9:26 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Deaccessioning

Hello,
I was wondering about deaccessioning objects from the permenant
collection
to be disposed of that were at one time an old loan.  There is a note
that
says the objects were made a gift by the daughter of the original
lender,
but no deed of gift or any other information indicating that they were
made a gift.  I was told at one time that a note like that from a
previous
employee is enough to make it the property of the museum and it is
alright
to consider it so.  Is this really the case or do you actually need a
deed
of gift or some other formal paper work to make it the museum's
property?

Thank you.

Beau Harris

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