Our tiny historical society had a similar experience last year when a
descendant of the creator of about 150 documents in our collection said he
was coming by to see the family things. He alleged that the documents were
given to someone years ago and that person was supposed to have given them
to the state historical society. We had only fuzzy memories and skimpy
written evidence as to how they wound up in our collection, but we decided
that we have an obligation to our patrons to protect the collection from
being slowly eviscerated.
     Within minutes of walking into our tiny museum, the descendant demanded
to know why these things were in our collection and not that of the state
historical society, as he intended. I answered only that I did not have an
answer to that. We then shepherded him in and showed him the items, how they
were stored, and how they had been carefully conserved. We pulled the items
out and talked about each of them, we pointed out that researchers found
their way to our door, to inquire about and study the items, and we noted
that we are planning to include them in an upcoming related exhibition.
     We heard nothing further for a while after the descendant left, but in
about a month, he called and said he found about 50 more documents and asked
if we would like to add them to the collection ... which we cheerfully did.
Lynne

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