Re:  Mary Ames Sheret's question about abandoned property:

Even though Missouri has legislation enacted to deal with abandoned
property, the logistics and costs for a museum to act on such property
is daunting and prohibitive.  At the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, we
have identified many such objects.  In order to carry out the
legislation that would allow us to declare the objects as ours to
dispose of, we would have to run advertisements in many local and
out-of-town newspapers to show that we have made the effort to contact
any and all possible owners of the property.  Two years ago the cost of
doing just that was about $4,000.  And with the budgets becoming leaner
and meaner in museums, $4K is thought to be better spent elsewhere.

So, until then, we provide free storage for artifacts that may not even
be museum property.



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