Hi Ginger,

there is an excellent article to get you started:

Linden Havemeyer Wise (1991), "Old Loans: A collections management problem",
REGISTRAR Vol.8 No. 2: 25-39

Registrar is published by the Registrar's Committee of the AAM.

Written by a lawyer it covers a dreat deal of the state law, as well as general
principles for approaching this subject.

Ricahrd Gerrard
Registrar, Toronto Historical Board

Ginger M. Young wrote:

> Starlyn,
>
> I did a practicum at my grad school (where I received my Masters in Museum
> science) dealing with FICs (Found in Collections with no accession number,
> etc.) and old loans.  They are VERY sticky to deal with.  You first need to
> see what sort of state laws (if any) there are dealing with old loans and /
> or abandoned property.  There are usually specific steps you must follow in
> order to properly take care of the situation.  Also be sure to see what your
> institution has in their collection management policy about this type of
> situation.  If there is nothing, I would suggest at the same time that a
> policy be written up in order to better address this problem in the future.
>
> Most of the museums that have been around a long time have had to deal with
> the problem of FICs and old loans.  It was a widely accepted practice to
> accept artifacts as long term (most often becoming permanent loans) loans
> that eventually have to be dealt with years and years from when they were
> first accepted, making things even more difficult.
>
> You must also be very careful of how the artifacts are eventually
> deaccessioned.  I hope that deaccessioning is dealt with in some sort of
> collections management policy as well.  Deaccesioning is usually a touchy
> subject and there are really only a few acceptable reasons for and methods of
> deaccessioning. I apologize if I am reiterating things that you are familiar
> with, it's just that especially in a small town  -- one must be extremely
> careful how things are handled.
>
> I hope this helps!  I apologize for not being able to give you specifics as
> the law varies from state to state and policies vary from museum to museum.
> I wish you the best of luck and patience as this can take quite a long time
> to completely resolve.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Ginger M. Young, Registrar