please excuse the cross postings

Dear colleagues,
I am in the midst of a post-deaccession mess and am seeking advice on
proper documentation.

The following is a summary of the situation:
Museum staff reviewed the collections for objects to deaccession, sorting
them into categories (items that needed more research, items to be
returned to collections storage and items for review by the deaccession
committee.)
After the curator left the museum, the categories were consolidated,
accession numbers were removed, some items were returned to storage and
some items were sold (without review of the committee.)  None of these
transactions were documented.
After coming on staff I completed a full inventory of the collections,
created a computerized database, and determined which items were probably
sold or disposed of.

At this point I would like to put some form of documentation in the
accession files for the items that I suspect were "deaccessioned" -- and
am wondering how I can best document their removal "after the fact."

Thank you in advance for any information/advice that you can forward.
Please send your thoughts to [log in to unmask]  I look forward
to hearing from some of you.

Melissa Heyman
Museum Curator
[log in to unmask]
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