We happen to be going through just the same thing, so let me tell you
about our experience and hopefully that will provide some guidance.
Last year a local collector left us her collection of eggs (mostly
collectables) in her will. The will stipulated that if we refused the
bequest, it would be offered to another local institution. Given the
size of the collection and the cost of caring, processing, housing,
preserving, etc. for the collection, our Curator put the decision before
the board if we should accept the collection. They decided to accept
it.
As far as I understand, there were no further stipulations in the will
(i.e. display, keeping the collection together, what-have-you). We have
a lawyer on our board, very handy, and she said the will transfers
ownership of the property, so we did not need to have a Deed of Gift.
Basically, we accept it, it's ours. We did however have the Executor
sign an Incoming Receipt to show we physically accepted the items.
Now that we have the collection, we have the right to do whatever we
want to with it because there were no other stipulations in the will.
So, our Curator can decide which pieces are Permanent Collection,
Education Collection, Props, etc.
Hope this helps.
Lee Goodan
Registrar
Gaston County Museum (Dallas, NC)
-----Original Message-----
From: George Harris [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2007 1:21 PM
Subject: Items left to museum in will
Hi,
The museum where I work just found out that it was left many items by
someone who passed away. My question is how does a museum go about
accepting some items and not other items from a bequest?
Thank you.
Beau Harris
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