Dear Colleagues,
I have been asked to draft a policy for review by
our board and I would very much value the input of staff at other insitutions
that have been faced with a similar situation.
To make a very long story short, we are
deaccessioning the entire contents of one of our historic houses . The
house will be returning to private hands and because of restrictions in the deed
of gift the buyer will be offered the option to purchase the collection
intact--if that option is declined we will retain a few items for ourselves and
other cultural institutions, but the majority of the collection will likely be
sold at auction. Either way, we're looking at a significant influx of cash
and are now trying to figure out how to handle it.
Of course we already have in place a policy that
restricts any income from the sale of collections objects to the acquisition or
direct care of the collection (per AASLH policy) but we're looking for guidance
on how other institutions have handled LARGE (6 figure) amounts if income from
the sale of collections. The general plan is to establish a portion of the
endowment limited to collections acquisition and conservation, with the interest
from the fund to be made available for use each year. I'm concerned about
limiting the fund too much, though, and want to leave some leeway open to spend
some of the principle (perhaps with provision that it be replaced within a
specified time) when extraordinary needs present themselves (say, the
acquisition of an object of particular significance or the immediate
conservation needs of an individual piece that exceed the yearly interest
earnings).
If anyone has a sample policy that they would be willing to share, or just
input from experience it would be most welcome. Policy documents can be
e-mailed to me directly at
[log in to unmask].
Thanks!
Catherine E. Dean
Curator of Collections
APVA
Preservation Virginia
204 West Franklin St.
Richmond, VA
23228
804-648-1889 x313
FAX: 804-775-0802
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