-----Original Message-----
From: Mary Ames B. Sheret <[log in to unmask]>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.museum-l
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: July 27, 1999 07:54
Subject: deaccessioning questions
>How many people contact the original donor or remaining family members of a
donor BEFORE >deaccessioning objects of a wide range of historical and
monetary values? A new Board member here >thinks that is what we should do.
...
****** A thorny question, and one that has been debated many times in museum
circles. Personally I like the idea. If I had donated my grandfather's gizmo
to a museum, and they later decided that they did not want it, I would be
furious if they did not offer to return it but simply sold it or junked it.
***** It gets complicated however when:
1. A Tax Receipt has been issued. Many museum people say that in that case,
the item should NEVER be returned to the donor as they have received a tax
benefit. I would prefer to think that they could have the option of talking
to the Tax officials to see if they had the option of paying back the
appropriate tax benefit. This may not be an option however.
2. It enters the public domain. Some museum professionals are adamant that
once an item enters the public domain, it must remain there, although
surprizingly they usually feel that it may be also be sold. They take a hard
line that the donor has surrendered all claim to the item(s) -
"unconditionally" - litterally. As a donor, I would be annoyed if my
grandfather's gizmo, no longer wanted by the museum, were to be sold to the
highest bidder, especially if I did not know it was coming on the market.
Museums dispose of items for many reasons - sometimes simply at the whim of
a new Director or Board, so one should be careful not to take a 'holier than
thou' attitude.
3. Most donors do not mind when the item is transferred to another museum
that can really appreciate and use it, especially if it is more relevant
there. Our museum has been involved in many transfers to other museums
(across Canada and overseas).
4. The donor is deceased, and there is a danger of squabbles among the
heirs. At one museum the staff stalled when they found that a relative
wanted an item 'returned', but to them, not the other relatives. Then the
donor's relative who had been asking for the artifact to be "returned",
died, and the issue was quietly shelved. Some relatives simply want an item
back so that they can sell it, whereas another branch of the family might be
really emotionally attached to grandpa's gizmo and might not care about the
monetary value. If returning an artifact to heirs, I suggest that it be done
formally through the executor of the donor's estate if possible.
5. The donor was acting on behalf of a family and other family members may
be annoyed if the artifact is returned to one individual.
>I'd like examples from other places on this proposed course of action.
>Thanks
>As for the eBay auction, I don't have an opinion about that yet. Why not
>work with a "reputable" auction house? (Have you tried to sell or trade to
>other non-profit museums first? in order to keep the object in the public
>venue....)
>Mary Ames Sheret
>Southern Oregon Historical Society
******* An auction is an auction, whether in person or on-line. In
Saskatchewan, the Western Development Museum had an auction, as did the now
disbanded British Columbia Transportation Museum - but both were only done
after they had exhausted all (well, "all" in reasonable terms) other venues
and transferred many of the better items to other museums. As for a
"reputable" auction house - well even some of the most reputable auction
houses have had problems of authenticating and/or selling forged/faked
items.
******* We GIVE to other non-profit museums, and don't worry about monetary
value. The chance that they will have a "trade" of equal value that we would
want is unlikely. We benefit by the goodwill it generates and by the
satisfaction of seeing items go to a more appropriate museum. This is
especially the case when something that we would simply store, becomes a
treasured display piece for another museum.
***** When deaccessioning, keep records of what happened to the items. Check
with your museums associations for thoughts on deaccessioning. It is a very
thorny issue!
Colin Macgregor Stevens
Museum Curator
Burnaby Village Museum
6501 Deer Lake Avenue
Burnaby, BC, V5G 3T6, CANADA
Phone: (604) 293-6500 FAX: (604) 293-6525
Business e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Museum Webpage:
http://www.burnabyparksrec.org/villagemuseum/villagemuseum.html
=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:
The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://museums.state.nm.us/nmmnh/museum-l.html. You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to
[log in to unmask] The body of the message should read "Signoff
Museum-L" (without the quotes).
|
