Isn't it against museum ethics to give deaccession objects to staff members?
I thought you 1. Find donor/heir  to give it back to
                     2. find another institution that it could be of use
                     3. sell it on Ebay/auction or other venue
                     4.destroy it as a last resort.


What are others thoughts?

Marielle



**********************
Marielle Fortier
Museum Registrar
Norwich University Museum
Northfield, Vermont
**********************





>From: Pamela Silvestri <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: documented disposal/deaccessioning
>Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2006 18:48:56 EDT
>
>
>In defense of 'dumpster diving'...may I suggest other alternatives to
>putting these items in the dumpster to begin with? First offering the 
>item(s) to
>staff members, bringing the items to the Salvation Army or the Goodwill, 
>are
>among those I would suggest. There is also a Yahoo website and others sites
>where you can offer free recyclable items.
>
>One of the towns I lived in had a town-wide tag sale, followed by curbside
>pick up. I've salvaged great finds in both. Most of our town dumps have
>'recycling sheds' too.
>
>Most of the frames for our panoramic photos in our museum are made from
>recycled tobacco shed boards.
>
>For all our dance recitals, my cousin's studio used 100% salvaged  
>materials
>for our sets. Myself and other friends of mine have repaired/reused  
>'trash'
>in our artwork and home and garden decorations. It's amazing to see  
>unwanted
>items brought back to life, etc.
>
>We really find it disturbing to come across items that have been
>intentionally destroyed  to the point of being  unusable.
>
>The 3 barrister bookcases I had been given from one museum...one set went  
>to
>another museum I volunteer for and the other two I've used at home ever
>since. Cheap pine and a dark stain...I'm still trying to decided how I 
>would  like
>to refinish them.
>
>As a non-profit organization, museum's retaining this status can legally
>serve as a charitable organization. If you're intentions/actions are legal 
>and
>altruistic, you're organization will fare much better in the face of 
>criticism.
>
>Pam
>
>
>
>
>
>
>In a message dated 4/4/2006 5:23:26 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
>[log in to unmask] writes:
>
>Hi  Kate,
>One thing you may need to consider is "dumpster diving."  We are  in an
>urban setting and have people going through our dumpster trash  pretty
>regularly.  If we approve of disposal of a deaccessioned  object through
>destruction- we certainly don't want someone fishing it out  of the trash
>for their own use.  Nor would we want the publicity  resulting from some
>citizen going to the media with an account of museum  employees throwing
>out artifacts in the trash.
>When we have been faced  with this situation, we photographically document
>the object(s), break it  into unusable pieces and personally haul it to a
>landfill that prohibits  scavenging.  We write an account of this process
>and file it in the  deaccessioned object(s) accession file.  Hope this
>helps.
>Sincerely,
>David Ryan
>Registrar
>Colorado Springs  Pioneers Museum
>www.cspm.org
>
>
>
>
>
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