Rachael,
I probably am not the ideal person to answer your
question and hopefully someone with more experience will chime in, but as a
conservator who has advised hundreds of museums on general preservation and care
of collections, including deaccessioning issues, my thoughts are the
following. If it has been formally determined that the pianos do not
fit your mission, and how that is determined is specific to the policies of each
individual institution, then feel free to deaccession. The grand piano
should have no problem finding a home. The organs I have less experience
with. However, whomever is the new owner should be responsible for moving
them. Unless you are sending them to the scrap yard (which I highly
recommend you do not), this should not be your responsibility. Ideally,
you can find people to buy them. If not, you can give them away on
Craigslist or Freecycle (there should be a local chapter near you) or other
venues. You can also consider Goodwill or Salvation Army if they take such
things. Don't forget local antiques dealers if they are "historic."
Upright pianos are very hard to get rid of, but it sounds like your items may be
easier and more desirable. Best wishes.
Marc
American Conservation Consortium, Ltd.
4
Rockville Road
Broad Brook, CT
06016
[log in to unmask] *Collections Preservation Consultation
*Conservation Assessments &
Surveys
*Environmental Monitoring & Low-Tech Control
*Moisture
Management Solutions
*Collections in Historic Structures
*Collections Care
Grant Preparation
Marc A. Williams, President
MS in Art
Conservation, Winterthur Museum Program
Former Chief
Wooden Objects Conservator, Smithsonian Institution
Fellow, American Institute for Conservation (AIC)
Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2018 3:11 PM
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] The keys to moving a piano or two or
three
Hello,
I am the Museum Director for a small-town,
small-museum in Oklahoma. We have little for our budget, and I have a few large
items that the museum cannot take care of anymore. I am new to the small town,
as well as, new to the museum world. Most of my board members have lived in the
town all their lives, but no one has ever worked in a museum or the very least
dealt with archival/collection.
In my museum's collection are several
items that we cannot take care - they have never been taken care of since they
were donated to the museum approx. 20 years ago. I have 1 grand piano and 2
organs. They're surprisingly in pretty good/fair condition, however, I know they
are not being taking care of because a) they're in storage - where there is no
a/c, humidity control, and mold in the building, b) these items have no
connection to the town and our mission statement, c) there are no documentation
on how we received these items or who they had belonged to or significance to
person and the town. What can/should I do? We don't need them, but we can't move
them, either - but if we can, we will adjust the moving of these items to our
budget.
Thank you,
Rachel
Whitney
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