Joel beat me to it. If this book was donated explicitly for sale and to raise money for the institution (as the questioner implied)then you should contact the donor for permission to put it in the permanent collection. Do they sign deed of gifts for the donations for sale? Are they the same deeds of gift? It might not be illegal or unethical to shunt the book to permanent collection if the donor has already signed a standard deed of gift giving the institution full ownership and control, but it is certainly good practice and donor care and feeding to keep their confidence. Matthew White On Jun 30, 2011, at 10:49 AM, Joel Williams wrote: > If the person donating the object is doing it explicity for the raising of funds, I don't see what right the museum has in keeping it. Offer to buy it, sure, but I'd argue it'd be unethical to do something other than what the donor intended. > > On Thu, Jun 30, 2011 at 10:43 AM, Carol Ely <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > I don’t have a source to cite, but here at Locust Grove we run an annual used book sale which has accepted donations of some quite valuable books. A professional book appraiser donates his services to us. When we see a book that is appropriate for in-house use, we move it either to the library, in the case of a book that is useful for reference, or offer it to the Acquisitions/Collections Committee for consideration, if it is suitable for display (a book that is old enough and of a subject matter that it could conceivably once been in the possession of household members). > > > > I don’t know about illegal or unethical, but it’s not a good idea to turn down a free mission-related addition to your collection for simple revenue. Although I suppose that’s the position that many museums are in now, fortunately we are not in that position. > > > > Carol Ely > > Historic Locust Grove > > Louisville > > > > From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Cass Karl > Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2011 9:34 AM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Settle an argument (ethics/ legal question) > > > > Hello listers! > > > > I am hoping that someone on the list can settle an argument between myself and a colleague... > > > > If an institution sells (say in a fundraising auction) an antique item (say an autographed 1st ed. book) that was donated for the sale, but would really be more appropriately kept for the collection, is that a) illegal, b) unethical, c) neither of these, but still just not a good idea? Please cite a source to support your position if you can. > > > > Thanks! > > > > -Casandra Karl > > Executive Director > > Mission Historical Museum > > Mission, TX > > > > To unsubscribe from the MUSEUM-L list, click the following link: > http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=MUSEUM-L&A=1 > > > To unsubscribe from the MUSEUM-L list, click the following link: > http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=MUSEUM-L&A=1 > > > > To unsubscribe from the MUSEUM-L list, click the following link: > http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=MUSEUM-L&A=1 > ========================================================= 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).