Dear Meg,
We have this problem ALL the time. People drop off boxes of "stuff", usually theatre programmes that we already have, to the museum on a weekly if not daily basis.
Our position is that we sort through EVERYTHING that arrives in this manner. It is our policy with any donation that we give donors the option of having material that we do not want, returned to them after our initial sorting process.
When we do not know who the donor is, we deal with the material in a manner in which we see fit and document the process, listing what we've kept and keeping documentation of any relocated items.
When we get boxes of Australian Ballet programmes from the 1980's, all of which we have, the Australian Ballet has, the Victorian Arts Centre has and possibly the National Library has too, we discard them.
When a programme is rare, but not suited to our collection, we relocate it to a more appropriate institution.
When a programme is common, but signed by a significant personality (including performers, designers, choreographers, production staff etc) we keep it.
WHATEVER YOU DO, DOCUMENT AS YOU GO. Then at least you can account for your actions and policies. You can only assume that an unknown donor does not want to have any more to do with the collection they leave.
If you'd like further info. on our collecting policy please email me direct.
Claudia.
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Claudia Funder
Acting Manager, Collections
Performing Arts Museum
Victorian Arts Centre
100 St. Kilda Road
MELBOURNE VIC AUSTRALIA 3004
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>our museum (literally left it on
>the front steps). We have no idea who left it, and no documentation
whatsoever. It is not in very good shape, either, and we do not want to add
it to our collections. Unfortunately, as it was donated anonymously, we
can't give it back, either.
The sticky part: neither Wisconsin statutes nor our collections policy
address unsolicited anonymous "drop-off" donations. Has anyone else ever
run into this situation? Does anyone have a policy that covers this type of
situation? What about if the item was something we did intend to accession?
Any assistance in clarifying our options/responsibilities in this matter
will be appreciated.
Thanks
Meg Ehr
Curator
Outagamie Museum and Houdini Historical Center
330 E. College Ave.
Appleton, WI 54911
(920) 735-9370
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