Simple answer: send them an invoice for the cost of storing the objects for
21 years.  Tell them that they can either pay the invoice (with the money
going to the upkeep of the facility) or transfer legal title to the museum.
Otherwise, you will have the objects removed to another storage facility at
their expense.  The cost of storage is not cheap, particularly when it has
the luxury of being temperature-controlled.  A call to a local commercial
storage facility will give you an idea of what to charge.  It should work
out to an astronomical sum.

I am in a similar situation, whereby the title to a portion of a large
collection of objects was transferred to the City of Toronto, while a group
of other objects were not included in the transfer, and technically still
belong to the heirs to the original estate.  These other pieces have been
in storage, alongside the collection that was legally transferred,  for the
better part of 10 years.  I am now considering the above action, in the
hope that they will see fit to donate the rest of the objects to the city.

Good luck.

Alex Avdichuk
City of Toronto
Arts, Culture and Heritage Services
[log in to unmask]



Since 1978, archival objects and some three-dimensional objects have been
given to the museum without the legal transfer of ownership (Donor Form)
being
generated. Recently, I attempted to have a blanket Donor Form signed by the
current for-profit organization's board. The board refused to sign the
Donor
Form although they would have retained copyright and trademark rights on
all
items.
It seems to be a control issue. One of their concerns is that the museum
would
toss things out! Of course, deaccessioning procedures were explained to
them,
but explaining museum strategy is like talking to the wall.  They couldn't
care less about proper museum procedures. They have been doing things their
way for 100 years! Their response was "well, we'll just put the items on
loan
to the museum!" (@ 5000 objects, 1/3 of the collection). Their point of
view
is that they give the museum a lot of money (they don't give nearly as much
as
they think) so the museum should be willing to "store" the items.
The director and I are very concerned about this situation, especially
since
we will be going through accreditation process in two years.
Any opinions or suggestions on this problem will be greatly appreciated.