Genevieve,
Meegan, Kati and Grant all had valid assessments and suggestions. The bottom line is, exactly who owned the items when they were donated. If they aren’t mentioned specifically in the will, the man probably gave them to his daughter of his own free will and as they passed to her possession she had the right to donate them. However, if she had taken them from his house without his knowledge, that’s different, but they would have to prove it. Either way, the will is the place to start. If they were mentioned in the will, be sure you deal directly with the executor of the will and not anyone else to get it resolved.
I dealt with many such claims at a former museum. It was always tricky. Try to come off as being fair minded, and don’t dig in your heels until you have sorted out the legalities and the back story. I encountered several instances when one family member donated things specifically so the other family members couldn’t get them, especially if the donating member believed that the other party would sell the things and he or she wanted to protect the items’ association with the family.
There is also the PR factor, which you pay attention to but do not cave in to. Avoid being adversarial, and develop a sympathetic demeanor, with “I’d really like to help you, but…… [there’s no mention of these items in the will…”] or [… it was apparently your father’s wish that you sister have these…”] etc.
Since you don’t necessarily feel the items are vital to your collection, the idea of offering to transfer them to the other museum is a perfect solution. The items stay in the public sector, and the donors sibs are happy (we hope).
If you were here in the U.S. there would also be the issue of IRS involvement, if someone took a tax donation (or was eligible to whether they did or not) the IRS position would be that the public sector would have to be compensated it they items go back to the private sector. (i.e. they would have to compensate you at market value.)
Good luck getting is solved amicably!
Lucy Sperlin
Butte County Historical Society
Oroville, CA
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Genevieve Carter
Sent: Wednesday, August 26, 2015 11:30 AM
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
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