Collections left in wills I guess my first reaction is that you are fortunate that the woman spoke to you at all, and told you her intent.  That is often not the case—people just assume that the museum will be glad to take their stuff, and then probably will put it all on exhibit forever and ever.  I wish I had a lot more current information on the property that I know members intend to leave us in their wills.

You have a couple of options, I guess, and it depends upon what type of relationship you have with the member and what kind of relationship you want with them for the rest of their life.  If you value them and want to continue to have good relations, you try being honest with them—which you’ve already tried, or you can say nothing more and wait for things to play out.  If you really don’t care about the current relationship, you can tell her that she is free to leave you the collection in her will, with her stated restriction, but that you expect the institution will decline the bequest and the collection will be liquidated as one of the assets of her estate.  This may lead her to reconsider, either allowing you pick of her collection, with the bulk going somewhere else, or she’ll work hard to find a museum that will accede to her wishes.  

Just because someone leaves us property in a will does not mean that we have to accept it—particularly when it comes with restrictions.  It sounds as if she may have made overtures to your institution before about her collection, and she met with some resistance.  Reasoning that you’d be stuck if she left it to you in her will, she’s made her stand.  

That is actually good for you.  While the ideal situation would be that she would leave you the collection as an unrestricted gift, allowing you pick of the collection, this is probably the next best thing.  Wait until she dies, and decline the bequest.  Citing policy, precedent, and resources will probably play a lot better with an estate attorney than it will with your member.  

In the end, people want what they want, and they often try to find ways to make it happen according to their wishes.

And it is often difficult for people to understand that no one else values their collection quite like they do!

Good luck.

Claudia

--
Claudia J. Nicholson
Executive Director
North Star Museum of Boy Scouting and Girl Scouting
2640 E. Seventh Avenue
North St. Paul, MN  55109
651-748-2880
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