We frequently get donations of material that is not "good" enough, for
various reasons, to add to the permanent collection.  But we list on the
Deed of Gift everything we intend to keep.  If we don't want it, we send
it back (that part of the process is explained in a form letter that goes
out with the receipt).  Some things we put into our "Study Collection",
which is material that is intended for heavy handling by
students--usually redundant of material already in the permanent
collection, or has special qualities that make it a prime candidate for
students to practice conservation.  We list things intended for the study
collection on the Deed of Gift under the heading "For the Study
Collection".  In one situation, we have an
arrangement with a [very special] donor where we send material that we
don't want to a pre-determined address of her choice (it is always the
same place) instead of sending it back to her.  But we also list those
things on the Deed of Gift under the heading "To be sent to...as per
donor's request".
We used to receive large amounts of material (an occupational hazard in
costume collections) that we didn't want, and, as most donor's didn't
want the material returned, we agreed to send it on to some other
institution, and those items were not listed anywhere (that was before my
time here).  That practice scared me, so I changed it (the board of
directors was in complete agreement).  Now everything that is not sent
back to the donor is listed on the Deed of Gift.  Only those items
accepted to the permanent collection receive accession numbers, however
(we have a separate numbering system for our study collection).

Now, if we could only convince those donors that it is important to
return the signed Deed...

Pat Roath
Elizabeth Sage Historic Costume Collection
Indiana University, Bloomington
[log in to unmask]

On Wed, 24 Apr 1996 [log in to unmask] wrote:

> Subject: Does Deed of Gift entail Accessioning?
>
> Scenario:
>
>    John & Mary Alum sell their home after many years living
> near their alma mater and move to Florida.
>
>    John calls the University Museum and arranges for someone to
> come pick up a number of artworks which they would rather not
> give to the Salvation Army.
>    A detailed receipt form is executed for the "artworks" at the
> Alums now empty home, the movers already having carted everything
> else away.
>
>    A Deed of Gift form is prepared and sent to the Alums at their
> new address for signing and return to the Museum Registrar.  One
> assumes that this Deed of Gift form should include everything
> listed on the Receipt form, so as not to alarm the Alums.  The
> Deed form has the usual language about "... given without
> restriction or limiting conditions".
>
>    Does this mean that all of these objects are now accessioned
> into the collection? The usual practice at the Museum has been to
> write the accession numbers in red ink next to each object listed
> on a Deed of Gift form.  But in this case, several of the
> artworks are not of Collection Quality.  Really.  Can one simply
> ink accession numbers next to *some* but not all of the objects?
>
> Your experience and wisdom is much appreciated!
>
>    ============================================================
>    Stephen B. Ringle, Registrar             [log in to unmask]
>    University of Maine Museum of Art
>    5712 Carnegie Hall, Room 109              vox: 207-581-3257
>    Orono, Maine   04469-5712                 fax: 207-581-3083
>    ============================================================
>