Hi Victoria-

A couple things you can do in this case. First, look at the Abandoned Cultural Property laws in your state (you can find a summary of them here: http://archivists.org/saagroups/acq-app/abandonedlist.asp). They will tell you what your legal obligations are to make due effort to locate the legal owners of an object. Depending on your state, you may need to locate Fred Turner's heirs, if he has any. Acting in good faith might also mean that you contact his heirs regardless of the laws because if you can't find paperwork for the pieces, a good bet is to go to his heirs and ask that they "complete" the donation. Be advised, sometimes they will say no and request the pieces back. 

Another thing to consider, did Karl Lau create them or have them commissioned? If he is the original artist, he may be able to help you locate heirs, and the copyright and/or ownership might even have changed hands with Turner's death. I do not know enough about this for the specific pieces we're discussing, but you can probably find helpful information in this book: http://www.amazon.com/Primer-Managing-Museum-Collections-Edition/dp/1588343227.

So to answer your questions...maybe. Legally, it depends on your state. Ethically, things are always a bit grey. I personally would say that if you're working to *restabilize* an object, you're in the right. Going beyond that is up to you and how much effort you feel you've put in to discover the conditions of the gift.

Good luck, and let us know what you find!

Kelsey Ransick
Curator & Archivist
Arden Craft Shop Museum
1801 Millers Road
Arden, DE 19810

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