Dear John:

I was delighted to hear of your challenge this afternoon. I, too, served as
the director of a small 501 (c)(3) museum affiliated (and housed on a
separate floor) by a for profit professional association. Prior to my
tenure, the museum had been treated as a repository for the associations'
historical artifacts, uncatagloued and unregistered. A seventy year
collection was stored in a) a wet basement b)an easily penetrated storage
room c)in the private offices of staff!

I encountered an identical problem with the rotating board, none of whom had
any museum background. As a free standing 501 (c) (3), we had our own
mission statement, policies and procedures, which were introduced gradually
and approved by the board. There was little understanding of the need for a
proper accession policy. Ownership and the potential for theft were the
deciding factors in finally getting the majority of the collection back into
the museum and getting artifacts properly accessioned. I inventoried the
entire unregistered section of the collection and the executive director of
the parent organization signed off as "found in collection".

The parent organizations' board clearly harbored the impression that the
mission of the museum was to store their friends' artifacts (unrelated to
the mission of the museum) and be grateful for the privilege. We all know of
horror stories where major fiscal donors were involved in such accessions.
These were unrelated and did not involve any donation. This practice ended
abruptly with my arrival.

My attempts at educating the board regarding responsibility for collections
care, storage and interpretation went largely unheeded until I attended a
training at the Smithsonian. Suddenly, I was the voice of authority. The
board finally saw the need to respect the collections storage area,
exhibition space and observe best practices (well, improve in this area,
anyway).

I would recommend that you invite a fellow professional in to speak with
your board in a training session at a board meeting. Often, a new voice
stating our old objectives lends a fresh perspective.

I hope this has been of some help.

Robin Le Van

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of John Gavin, Old West Museum
Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 1999 2:36 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: (no subject)


I am the curator of collections in a museum that has been in existence since
1978. It is the 501(c) 3 offshoot of a for-profit organization that retains
very close ties, political and otherwise (a 100 year old organization run by
volunteers; governance changes every three years, although the same people
seem to circulate through the system). In fact, the museum houses both the
museum, museum offices and the for-profit organization's offices. Although
the
operations are physically separated within the building, both entities have
ownership of different portions. Some exhibits and storage are located in
the
for-profit organization's portion.

Since 1978, archival objects and some three-dimensional objects have been
given to the museum without the legal transfer of ownership (Donor Form)
being
generated. Recently, I attempted to have a blanket Donor Form signed by the
current for-profit organization's board. The board refused to sign the Donor
Form although they would have retained copyright and trademark rights on all
items.

It seems to be a control issue. One of their concerns is that the museum
would
toss things out! Of course, deaccessioning procedures were explained to
them,
but explaining museum strategy is like talking to the wall.  They couldn't
care less about proper museum procedures. They have been doing things their
way for 100 years! Their response was "well, we'll just put the items on
loan
to the museum!" (@ 5000 objects, 1/3 of the collection). Their point of view
is that they give the museum a lot of money (they don't give nearly as much
as
they think) so the museum should be willing to "store" the items.

The director and I are very concerned about this situation, especially since
we will be going through accreditation process in two years.

Any opinions or suggestions on this problem will be greatly appreciated.