Dear List,

I am writing to see if any other museums have experience with individuals giving tombstones for their collections.  I have not had tombstones brought here on my watch but I have many tombstones accepted over the past twenty years or so.   

Individuals, even the police, have brought eighteenth and nineteenth century tombstones to our organization over the years.  The stones come to us for various reasons such as the stones are recovered from theft and/or vandalism, or someone purchases an old farm and find that their stone walkway between the house and barn is actually made of tombstones most likely removed from a family cemetery on their property.  

The organization did accession the stones into the collection with a note that they would only be held until they could be returned to the proper location.  This ensured that the stones would suffer no further damaged or improper disposal.  The organization felt a moral obligation to protect the tombstones. 

I am currently faced with the possibility of more stones coming in without enough storage space and resources to give proper care or a request from an individual or organization to remove them from our procession. 

I am not sure how unique our situation is and whether there are any museums out there that have any policies or procedures to handle tombstones.  

Thanks,
Ben  

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