You can probably find the most compelling arguments in A Legal Primer on
Managing Museum Collections by Marie Malaro.  Simply put, accepting
restrictions on gifts can tie the hands of your successors in ways that
you simply cannot foresee [and a great many that you probably can!]

Claudia Nicholson
Curator
Museum Collections Department
Minnesota Historical Society
345 Kellogg Blvd. W.
St. Paul, MN  55102-1906
  e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
  Phone:  651-297-7442
  FAX:  651-297-2967

> ----------
> From:         Starlyn D'Angelo[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent:         Thursday, August 13, 1998 7:34 AM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      Donor agreements
>
> What are your strongest arguments for upholding the "no strings
> attached"
> policy for donations to museum collections?
> I am a young professional and occassionally I find that I must back up
> my
> opinions with hard facts or the words of others before people listen
> to me.  I insist that no professional museum promises donors permanent
> display of an object (this is noted several times in the
> Museum-L archives but no rationale is provided).  I need the words of
> other
> professionals to back me up.  Thanks for your help.
>
> Starlyn D'Angelo, Curator
> Old Stone Fort Museum Complex
>