I presume by the involvement of a descendant that the original lender is deceased?

In addition to Mr. Roberts observation that all leads must be examined, you can't assume that just any descendant of the original lender is/was heir to the property, and you can't take that descendants word for it; otherwise, what would happen if you "returned" (gave) the item to Descendant #1, then a year later a brother, sister, nephew, etc. of that person (Descendants #2, 3 & 4) showed up, claiming the property was theirs?  

If there is a will for the original lender, it would have to be checked to see if the item was specifically left to an individual.  If there is no specific mention, or an "all other property goes to..." type of clause, the executor of the estate may need to be involved.

I've actually run into this type of situation twice (of relatives trying to claim property rightfully belonged to them), though in one instance we had the property on short-term loan, and in the other we had a clear gift agreement from the donor.  If we didn't have the documentation to fall back on, it would have been a real nightmare in both cases.  

The example you cite is also one of the reasons many museums have policy expressly against accepting long-term loans.



------------------------------------------------------------
Tim McShane, Assistant--Cultural History
Esplanade Museum
401 First Street SE
Medicine Hat, AB   T1A 8W2
Tel: (403) 502-8587
[log in to unmask]

>>> Stephanie Rohwer <[log in to unmask]> 3/4/2007 10:28 PM >>>
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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