When I was the curator at Midway Village & Museum at
Rockford, Illinois, we had a very good policy for
deaccessions.  The decision to deaccession an object
was made by a member of the curatorial department.  They
then filled out paperwork that gave a description of
the object, its accession number, and the reason for
deaccessioning it (too many other good examples in the
collection; condition was beyond conservation methods;
the artifact didn't fit our mission statement).  As
Curator, I would then take a look at the object and if
I agreed with the assessment I signed the deaccession
sheet which then went to out Director.  If she agreed to
the deaccession, she signed the sheet and took it to the
next board meeting.  The board,as a whole, would discuss
the deaccession and if they agreed a board member signed
the sheet.  The paperwork then came back to me and I would
find the object a new home.

When I left Midway I was in the
process of setting up a newsletter that was to go out to
other museum with which I had contact with the specific
purpose of offering items we had deaccessioned.

As for old exhibit cases and the such, we gave them to our
woodworking shop.  They recycled the wood, glass, and plexi
in exhibits for the museum center or repairs in the village
(fences, wagons, and such).

Belinda Nickles