Good point, Tracie.

That's the reason to document your attempts to contact the 'donor', so that
after the legal time to claim abandoned property expires, you have proof of
abandonment.

Lucy

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Tracie Evans
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2007 9:04 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Artifact Ownership

What you described is the essence of abandoned property.  Just because
you know who left it doesn't mean that they didn't abandon it.  You did
not ask for it and have attempted to contact them but they have refused
to contact you back or return the deed of gift.  

It cannot be FIC because you know were it came from that wouldn't be
right, but you are legally entitled to use the abandoned property.  You
have made the good faith effort; they are the ones refusing to
acknowledge the items.

Tracie




-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Gwenyth G. Haney
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2007 7:22 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Artifact Ownership

Okay- this may be a silly question- but I wanted to get some opinions
from 
the rest of you out there, as some of you may have dealt with a similar 
situation...

A little over a year ago, our institution received- via the post office-
an 
unsolicited donation of materials.  In the past year, I have attempted
to 
contact this donor several times and have yet to receive a signed Deed
of Gift 
(or a response for that matter!) and so I'm curious...

Since the proposed donor obviously will not sign a deed of gift- and
since 
these items are things we would like to add to the permanent collection
can 
we consider this abandoned property? 

Or- could we simply list the items as FICs (Found in Collection)- (even
though 
we know who sent them) and wait the appropriate amount of time (as
stated 
by our State law) to claim them as ours? Is that considered sneaky or 
underhanded?

Or- should we simply send them back?  

I should also maybe mention that these items have little to no monetary
value-
they are 3 pieces of packaging (shopping bags and a jewelry box with a 
store's logo on them) from a local store dating from the 1940s-1980s.

Any thoughts on this? They would be greatly appreciated...

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