Stephanie--

Without seeing anyone else's response, I can say that most museums have in their collections policies a set of criteria for accepting objects and one of the criteria is always "Can the museum properly care for it?"  If the answer is no, then the object should not be accepted.  

However, if your REAL question is "How do you tell a donor that you cannot accept their offer of an object for the collection?", then the answer to that is "very carefully."  Most donors will understand if you tell them that although you would like to receive it, the object requires a level of care that you already know you will not be able to provide, and therefore you cannot in good faith accept the responsibility of caring for the object.  If you surround that news with some ooh-ing and aah-ing about how wonderful the object is and how important your role is as a guardian of the public's heritage, it will generally be accepted. You can also suggest other museums with a similar mission but with the capacity to care for the object better than you can.

Julia Moore
Public Art Administrator
Blackburn Architects
Indianapolis, IN


-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list on behalf of Stephanie Rohwer
Sent: Fri 12/8/2006 3:24 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Advice Needed
 
I am a graduate student at Tufts University and I'm working on my final 
paper assignment for a class I'm taking.  The assignment requires me to ask 
question and then use research to support an answer to that question.  My 
question is:  "What course of action should a museum take if it is presented 
with an object that meets its mission, but it is an object that the museum 
can not properly care for."  I'm looking for any advice anyone can give me.  
I know this situation has come up countless times, so if anyone is willing 
to share their experiences, I would really appreciate your help.

Stephanie Rohwer

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