Hi,

We have a house that was bequeathed to us in a will, complete with the 
house contents.  The house came with an endowment for the upkeep - never 
as large as we'd like, but does generate interest.  The will states that 
we can sell the property if it is no longer feasible for us to maintain 
it but we have to keep a specified collection of early American 
decorative arts that the owner had collected. (Those artifacts would be 
moved to another of our buildings.) We have a contigent on the board 
that wants to sell the house now...I'll spare the arguments and 
reasoning behind that.

I'm assuming that a house is like any other artifact - regardless of 
whether or not it's been formally accessioned, it's a gift that's part 
of our collection.  The owner intended us to have it open for visitors X 
days per year, etc.  So in addition to proving legality (we can no 
longer feasibly maintain the property, which I don't agree with), I 
think we need to prove deaccessioning criteria = this house isn't 
relevant to our mission, etc. in order to follow our policy.

Has anyone else gone through this, or know of an institution to 
contact?  Has SPNEA/ Historic New England or Williamsburg ever 
deaccessioned properties?  Do institutions treat the building as a 
straight sale or treat it as deaccessioning an artifact?

Thanks,

John Marks
Curator
Geneva (NY) Historical Society

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