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