Oh dear. I think I'm going to have to back Candace on this one. In truth, no one has said that small, unaccredited, volunteer-run, non-"professionally" staffed museums eat dirt (not to mention send moldy, insect-ridden objects without the slightest hint of good manners), but those of us in the 12,000 small museums dealing with the perception that any of those adjectives imply lack of appropriate collections stewardship is not an uncommon experience (sorry if you have to read that sentence a couple of times for it to make sense, but then it's late afternoon in the middle of the week). But (also in truth) most of the comments on this situation have suggested one or more of these as explanations. It was certainly unfortunate that the objects arrived in a (literary) lousy state and it was also unfortunate that whoever sent it did not call ahead to find out if the package would be welcome. HOWEVER, they were appropriate objects for the collection and there was a letter which provides the means for follow-up. My initial response was "do not attribute to malice what is more likely due to stupidity". Thinking about it a bit more, perhaps the focus should be on the sender's good intentions (after all don't we all want objects to find "good homes"?) and a response that begins, "I'm sure you didn't realize...". [As a side note on the deaccession question, it is also possible that these were objects that wer offered to the first museum, either separately or as part of a larger donation, with the instruction "find a good home" or "do whatever you want with them".] janice Janice Klein (Chair, SMAC-AAM) Director, Mitchell Museum of the American Indian [log in to unmask] www.mitchellmuseum.org -----Original Message----- From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Candace Perry Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2005 3:39 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Don't Bug Me? I guess I'm just feeling sensitive today...sniff... Candace Perry ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).