Hi Mark – as someone who is dealing with similar problems, albeit in smaller numbers, just remember some wise words a father of a friend uses…”You can only eat an elephant one bite at a time!”
Good luck…you can chip away at the mountain bit by bit and next thing you know, you’ll just have a molehill! :-)
Best, VivianLea
VivianLea Stevens
Curator
Old Barracks Museum
28 West State St., 8th Floor
Trenton, NJ 08608
888-227-7225 phone
609-396-4000 fax
www.barracks.org
_____
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mark D. Hanson
Sent: Monday, March 07, 2005 3:38 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Transfer of ownership
Hello Everyone:
I think I'm in a registration nightmare.
I'm dealing with a fairly large collection of objects (3,000), library material (5,000) and archives (150,000). I'm finding that most (85-90%) of the collections do not have have clear transfer of ownership paperwork, or no paperwork at all. Most of the loan paperwork is also outdated and/or has never been signed.
Very little formal accessioning has been done, and only rudimentary catalogoging. No inventory has been done at all. To make matters worse, it appears that donation and loan objects and paperwork have not been kept together or associated. Sometimes all I have is a scrap of paper with a name on a pile of stuff.
Right now my strategy is simply to sort out the mess and try and match artifacts with l paperwork.Hopefully valid donor info will emerge. Some of these issues are close to 10 years old, and some I'm certain will not reveal donor info. If I don't have a heart attack first, I'm sure the wheels of abandoned property law will need to be put in motion.
Any suggestions or imminent concerns I'm overlooking??
Thanks a lot!
_________________
Mark D. Hanson
Curator
Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum
1011 Pacesetter Drive
Rantoul, Illinois 61866-3672
217-893-1613 ◦ 217-892-5774 (fax)
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