Hi Catrina:

I believe the best approach to deaccessioning is:

-Make sure you have legal title before disposing of anything
-Fill out a Deaccessioning Form or some other documentation of your actions
-Have all deaccessions approved by the Collections Committee
-Send everything to a public and out of county/region auction house as an
anonymous client

If it's especially valuable, have it appraised and send it to a bigger
auction firm. Sometimes the bigger houses like to advertise that the piece
came from a museum, I think this is fine if it's one painting, one carriage,
etc. It's a little different, too, when the auction house is a distance from
your museum. You have to be sensitive to your community because people
oftentimes get the impression that you're "selling off the collection".
You're not, you're culling. You shouldn't deaccession anything that pertains
to your mission unless it's in irreparable condition, is a duplicate, or
it's is a danger to staff or the rest of  the collection.

All proceeds from the sale of museum objects should be kept in a restricted
fund, only to be used for new acquisitions, conservation, or care of the
permanent collection. The "care" part is always in a fuzzy area because some
institutions like to think of this as a new wing on their building. I think
that's stretching it. I always thought along the lines of archival supplies,
conservation of objects, shelving, environmental monitoring equipment, etc.

I would stray far away from contacting the original donors, unless there is
a stipulation in the original donation. You could find yourself in the
middle of a sticky situation since there are always more family members 2,
3, or 4 generations removed than when the object was originally donated.

As for "trading" or giving objects to other museums, I think it's best to
transfer objects without charge to other responsible museums. But you really
have to judge these on a case-by-case basis since you don't want to sell
yourself short on a piece that has value in the marketplace.

I hope this helps.

I think deaccessioning is going to come back into the museum debate again
due to the country's financial woes. We all need to be reminded of our
museum's missions, how we hold collections in the public trust, and be ever
mindful of our responsibilities as professionals.

Peace.

Joann Lindstrom
Museum Consultant
380 Back West Creek Road
Berkshire, NY  13736
607-642-5078 phone
607-642-5494 fax

> collections and we are trying to make some decisions about the process.
> We've made some firm decisions based on "A Legal Primer,"  "A Deaccession
> Reader," "New Museum Registration Methods," and various articles that have
> been written, but we're still uncertain about some points.  And we're trying
> to develop a process that will not be incredibly time consuming and
> cumbersome.  And oh yes, it would certainly be nice to recoup a small amount
> of money that could be used to start an acquisitions fund.  Some specific
> questions that we're grappling with:
>
> In your situation, did you:
> *       Publish a public notice of the deaccession disposals, and if so,
> where was it published and how much detail was given?
> *       Offer any of the objects back to the donors, and if so what
> parameters did you set?  Anything donated in the last 10 years?  Anything
> with a family provenance?  Anything with a value of more than $500? etc.
> What problems did this present?
> *       Offer any of the items to other museums? How much work did this end
> up being and what problems did this present?  Did you sell them?  Trade
> them?  Receive any kind of compensation?
> *       Auction items?  And if so, did you auction them in the same town as
> the museum and did you auction them in the museum's name or anonymously?
>
> If anyone can share their stories about how they disposed of these types of
> "junk" items, I would be very appreciative.  I'd be happy to hear from you
> off-list, or by phone (303) 866-4693 to avoid cluttering the list.
>
> Thank You!

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