Hello all, We just received a fairly large collection of mid-20th century ladies hats. Many of these hats came to us in hat boxes, but the problem is that 2-4 hats are inside each box. Most of them cannot be authenticated as "THE" hat that came in the box, because labels don't match, etc. I am planning to remove the hats from the boxes and place them in acid-free storage boxes. But what do I do with the hat boxes themselves? What do you do at your museum? Do you accession the empty boxes separately and take up double the storage space? Or do you pitch them? Does it matter if you can match the hat up with the correct box or not? Do "orphan" boxes matter? There are quite a few boxes in this particular collection -- so we aren't talking about one or two. Storage space -- like always, everywhere -- is limited. I also have this question about shoes that are or aren't in their original boxes. Do the boxes themselves matter? Usually if the boxes are identified with a local department store, I have been keeping them and accessioning them as their own artifacts (that goes for shoes, hats, clothing boxes, etc). But if the box comes from a major department store that could have been purchased in town or across the country, do I want to keep that? Incidentally, I can't ask the donor. She is suffering from dementia in a nursing home, and the hats were brought in by her son, who has no more information to provide... Any advice is greatly appreciated. Kim Kenney Kimberly A. Kenney, Curator Wm. McKinley Presidential Library & Museum 800 McKinley Monument Dr. NW Canton OH 44708 * 330-455-7043 * NEW EXHIBIT: "Hearth & Home" now open and on view through April 2006. * McKINLEY DAY: Help us celebrate our 25th President's birthday on January 28, 2006 -- half-price admission! "Let us ever remember that our interests are in concord, not conflict; and that our real eminence rests in the victories of peace, not those of war." -- 25th United States President William McKinley __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ========================================================= 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).