Agreed. If you have a valid deed of gift you should be fine. Deed of gifts should include a line that the person signing it has the legal authority/ownership to gift the materials. Yours might have that including already. I am also wondering why the siblings waited until her death to approach you? Maybe it is because she did indeed have the authority to gift the items and she is not longer around to refute the siblings claim. They may be looking at a tax write off, but what if the original donor did the same? If you have valid deed of gift I would not return the items. Grant Gerlich Archivist/Director Mercy Heritage Center Belmont North Carolina On Wed, Aug 26, 2015 at 3:40 PM, Meegan Carr <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Hi Genevieve, > > > > Personally, I would request a copy of the father’s will. If he bequeathed > the items to the daughter that donated them and you have a signed Deed of > Gift, then you should be covered. However, if the items were just part of > his estate, then it would fall to the executor to distribute them to the > appropriate beneficiary. The executor could have given the items to the > daughter (your donor) and now the other family members are trying to make a > stink because she’s not there to defend her decision. > > > > I would stand behind my collections policy and make them prove that the > donor did not have the legal right to donate the objects. If they prove > that she did not have the right to donate the items, then you have to give > them back. However, the museum can cite that the reason the items were > returned was because the donor didn’t have the right to donate them in the > first place. Though, I suspect if you require them to prove what they say, > then they might forget about it. At one of my previous positions we had > something similar happen and it turned out the complainer was looking for a > tax deduction. > > > > This is just my two cents and by no means legal counsel. Do you have a > lawyer on your board that could advise you? > > > > Good Luck! > > > > Meegan Carr > > Director of Collections > > York County Heritage Trust > > 250 E. Market Street > > York, PA 17403 > > T. 717.848.1587 x 229 > > [log in to unmask] > > www.yorkheritage.org > > > > *From:* Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] *On > Behalf Of *Genevieve Carter > *Sent:* Wednesday, August 26, 2015 2:30 PM > *To:* [log in to unmask] > *Subject:* [MUSEUM-L] Return of Donated Items > > > > Hello! > > Four years ago our museum was given a small collection of World War > II-related artifacts (medals, letters, photographs and a uniform) by a > daughter of their original owner. This woman has recently died and her > siblings have come forward claiming that she had not been authorized by the > rest of the family to donate their father’s belongings to us. She was not > the executor of her father’s estate. They would like to have the medals > returned to the family, as it had always been their intention to donate > them to another museum. > > Has anyone on the list had to deal with a situation like this? Our > collections policy states that we do not return artifacts to donors (or > descendents), but their acceptance had been based on the assumption that > the donor had the right to donate in the first place. > > We have a number of World War II medals in the collection, so > returning them to the family would not impinge on the breadth of the > collection, but we are concerned about the message that this might send to > the community if word gets out: “If you cause a big enough fuss, they’ll > give you your stuff back.” > > Thanks for any insight you can offer. > > > > Genevieve Carter > > Huronia Museum > > Midland, Ontario > > > ------------------------------ > > To unsubscribe from the MUSEUM-L list, click the following link: > http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-HOME.exe?SUBED1=MUSEUM-L&A=1 > > ------------------------------ > > To unsubscribe from the MUSEUM-L list, click the following link: > http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-HOME.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).