You might need to check with your state laws.  I know Arkansas recently 
passed a Museum Property Act that clearly explains what a museum can do 
with:

abandoned loans, expired loan argeements, or loans in the possession of the 
museum for more than 10 years without documentation, items found in 
collections, and items in collection with some level of documentation (at 
least date of discover) for more than 7 years

I know there are some states with similar laws, but I can't remember which 
ones they are, sorry.

Heather Marie Wells

>From: Linda McAllister <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Questions
>Date: Tue, 3 Oct 2006 13:29:49 -0400
>
>Does your museum have a gift acceptance policy?  If you don't, you might
>want to do so right away before the next delivery occurs (this happens
>to us all the time -- we're just now turning away well meaning but
>useless gifts).  I would think that, if you did not accept the gift
>yourself and you have no way to identify the donor, you should be able
>to dispose of it as you wish.  I don't know if others on our list agree
>with me or not.
>
>
>Linda McAllister, CFRE
>Curator of Advancement
>The Florida Air Museum
>Office:  863-644-2431 ext. 142
>[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>________________________________
>
>From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
>Behalf Of lyrehcna
>Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 12:50 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Questions
>
>
>Hello all,
>
>
>I have some eithcal questions for you.
>
>
>Approximately 18 months ago the physical plant delivered a work to my
>gallery while I was away.  They had received a request asking that "a
>piece of art" be "returned" to the gallery.  The "art" in question (a
>2-d papier mache bird connected to a stick "frame" by twine with a "made
>in Philippines" sticker on it; it is clearly from an import store) does
>not belong to the gallery, and I cannot find the rightful owner.  I
>would like to offer it to a local student for their annual auction, but
>I am not sure if that is, indeed, ethical.  Any thought of what I should
>do with the piece?
>
>I also have another query regarding deaccessioning.  Ca. 20 years ago my
>college was given 3 works by a deceased alumnus artist's family.  There
>is no documentation, and the works were never accessioned into the
>gallery's collection.  The works were recently "returned" to the
>gallery, where they were placed a storage hallway (as we do not have
>available storage space.)  When I found them, I phoned the appropriate
>administrative offices who said, that the family had given the works to
>the college to keep or sell and that the then-director (ca. 15-20 years
>ago) had expressed interest in accessioning the work, so they are
>considered the gallery's.  They were exhibited in an alumni show here,
>but otherwise, I can find no information to change my mind.  I do not
>feel that we should accession them.  Am I bound by the fact that a
>previous director expressed an interest in accessioning them?
>
>To make matters worse, we have no board and there is no collections
>policy or manual.  I am currently drafting the latter now, but I am
>itching to do something about these works before then.
>
>In fairness to my institution, I would like to reamin anonymous on this
>post.  I would; however, be more than willing to discuss this with
>anyone off-list.
>
>Thank you.
>
>________________________________
>
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