My understanding is that the same requirements hold whether you know the
owner or not for "abandoned" or "found in collection" items. In both cases
you are asserting ownership and then waiting for a statute of limitations to
run out. You might seek clarification from your State Attorney General as
to whether there is a specific exclusion from this law for objects for which
no owner is known. In Texas the Texas Association of Museums
(http://www.io.com/~tam/) should be able to guide you on this one, too.
"Orphaned" collections are something very different. These are generally
natural history or science collections held by museums that are no longer
interested/able to curate them and are thus "in need of new homes". There
was a major study of these a while back, but the source escapes me just at
the moment.
janice
Janice Klein
Director, Mitchell Museum of the American Indian
[log in to unmask]
www.mitchellmuseum.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Amanda Thompson
Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 2004 2:34 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: abandoned property
Hello All:
I have a question re: "orphaned collections," aka "found in collection"
items. According to the Texas Property Code, Chapter 80, a museum can
begin the process of gaining ownership of abandoned property (a donation
that was never actually completed or an expired/permanent loan) by marking
the date that the object is declared "abandoned," waiting 15 years w/o any
contact from the owner, then 1) declaring notice in the newspapers of the
county of the museum and the county of the last known address of the owner
at least once per week for 2 consecutive weeks, or 2) sending a letter w/
proof of receipt. If the owner still has not contacted the museum within
65 days after the last notice given, then the museum may "claim" the
property.
That's all fine & dandy, but here is my question: What is the procedure
when the museum has absolutely no idea who donated the object (if indeed
it is a donation and not an undocumented loan) or from where it came?
(There are many artifacts in the collections of the museum that are
considered "old collections" and have been at the museum for as long as
anyone who is still alive can remember.)
If there is no known donor or lender, then notice obviously cannot be sent
in a letter, nor can it be placed in the newspaper of the owners last
known county. So, since the museum doesn't have legal ownership of the
object, it cannot be accessioned, deaccessioned, disposed of, or loaned.
Have any of you ever dealt with a similar situation? Even if you aren't
in Texas, I would be very interested in hearing your ideas/thoughts.
Thanks,
Amanda Dyer
Bell County Museum
Belton, TX
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