For a normal donation, I'd agree. This is a sensitive item with a murky
provenance, so in that case I'd send it back. If no one is willing to
talk about where the tombstone was found it could have been stolen from
a cemetery or tossed aside during construction which disturbed a burial.
If there are doubts about ownership, you can't rightfully dispose of it
either. Sending it to another institution where it would be preserved
and retrievable would be a fair compromise, but I wouldn't sell it to a
private individual or destroy it.
Kris Zickuhr
Registrar
Wisconsin Veterans Museum
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Timothy McShane
Sent: Monday, December 01, 2008 10:48 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Tombstones
>>> just follow your normal deaccession procedures and then return it
to the donor.
I've said this before, and it may not apply in this case if the
tombstone was never accessioned, but I'll take this opportunity to
repeat myself--it's a bad idea for your normal deaccession/disposal
procedures to include returning items to the donors. The major problem
is with the tax implications--if a donor received a tax receipt at the
time of donation, then eventually gets the item back, the donor has
received a benefit from public funds AND still ends up privately owning
the "donated" item(s); the CRA (and, I would expect, the IRS) heartily
disapproves of that! Even if no tax receipt was issued for a particular
donation/deaccession, if you ever issue tax receipts for donations, and
then are seen to be returning donated items to the donors, it looks bad
to your friendly neighbourhood tax agency.
Not to mention the hassles involved if the original donor has passed
away, and you have to deal with the estate and/or heirs in determining
the proper people to return items to...
Our disposal procedures for deaccessioned items is to first try to find
a home for the item that keeps it in the public domain (ie., find
another museum that wants the piece). Failing that, disposal through
public sale, preferably by auction (at which time the donor/donor's
family has equal opportunity to re-acquire the piece), and as a last
resort, through witnessed destruction.
------------------------------------------------------------
Tim McShane, Assistant--Cultural History
Esplanade Museum
401 First Street SE
Medicine Hat, AB T1A 8W2
Tel: (403) 502-8587
[log in to unmask]
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