At 04:40 PM 4/29/97 -0400, you wrote:
>At some time in its past, this museum received various groups of old farm
>implements including metal-rimmed wooden wagon wheels.  The gifts of these
>batches are recorded but the items never accessioned and numbered.  There
>exists no information on age, ownership, uses,etc.  They were laying behind
>a shed when I arrived, most in various stages of rot.
>
>We saved four of them for use in a pioneer farm setting.  Two are a matched
>set.  They neither add to, nor subtract from, our ability to interpret
>early 19th century Appalachian rural life.  But they have eye appeal and
>folks love to be photographed beside one or two of them.
>
>One of our Board members, a re-enactor and long a volunteer before joining
>the Board, asks that the matched set be given to him.

A strict interpretation of museum ethics would suggest that there is no way
a transfer could be done without a proper deaccessioning analysis and
opening it up to "bids."
However, IF the items are redundant in or irrelevant to the the collections,
IF it is done completely in the "sunshine," IF the board approved, and IF
the contractor could provide something of value, such as repairs to the
museum, I could see no harm.

The problems usually occur when the deal is under the table, is connected
with items of intrinsic monetary value or relevance to the collections, and
the acts happen without the oversight of a board. If the museum has no
deaccessioning policy I would stay WELL away from it until a policy has been
put in place.

Another way to approach it might be for the museum to retain title to the
finished mortar (if it is relevant to your mission) with the reenactor
acting as a periodic demonstrator and lay-curator of the piece. Make sure
your insurance is in place though!
----------------------
Byron Johnson, Director
Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum
P.O. Box 2570, Waco, Texas 76702-2570
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
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"...Unless a people are educated and enlightened it is idle
to expect the continuance of civil liberty or the capacity
for self-government."
Texas Declaration of Independence,  March 2, 1836.