Open Forum

Hi,

I'm interested in hearing from other institutions if they have experience with unsolicited "donations" being dropped off at their museum (with no documentation) or sent to the museum by mail.  Since such items are then technically in the possession of the museum and they are not wanted by the museum, what rights does the museum have to do with the items?  Is this a case where abandoned property laws must be followed?

If you've had experience with this at your institution, I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks.

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Keri Koehler
Collections Manager
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
San Francisco CA
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We try and contact the stealth donor to give item(s) back or get a deed of gift.  After that, I do not think museums are under any legal obligations to keep unwanted drop offs and can dispose of in any manner they choose.

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David Beard
Director
Museum of the Gulf Coast
Port Arthur TX

------Original Message------

Hi,

I'm interested in hearing from other institutions if they have experience with unsolicited "donations" being dropped off at their museum (with no documentation) or sent to the museum by mail.  Since such items are then technically in the possession of the museum and they are not wanted by the museum, what rights does the museum have to do with the items?  Is this a case where abandoned property laws must be followed?

If you've had experience with this at your institution, I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks.

------------------------------
Keri Koehler
Collections Manager
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
San Francisco CA
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Geri:
We all want it to be that simple, but in practice, I have not seen such policies work all the time at any of the museums I have worked.  Volunteers and student assistants are often unwilling to deal with someone intent on donating the most important object ever to the museum.  If staff are present, then they can be called down to deal with the situation, but on weekends and certain holidays this becomes a problem.  I have shipped objects back to people COD if they were found to have been rude or aggressive toward my staff or volunteers.  If no donor information is available and we do not want it, we have either tossed it in the dumpster (where it would often end up in any event) and even sold stuff on ebay and used funds for staff and volunteer parties.

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David Beard
Director
Museum of the Gulf Coast
Port Arthur TX

Original Message:
Sent: 11-07-2015 08:27 AM
From: Geri Thomas
Subject: Abandoned Property & Unwanted Donations

Create a policy stating that no unsolicited donations can be dropped off! Make sure all staff understand and follow the policy.  Tell or give those people who want to donate objects the policy and how they can be in touch with a curator regarding potential gifts.  It's that simple.  Best, Geri Thomas

We have a form that anyone dropping off a "dump and run" contribution must fill out and sign clearly indicating that the museum has the right to dispose of the object(s) as it sees fit. We do not accept anything without contact information. We also work with our front line staff to make sure they are comfortable turning things down that may be problematic or hazardous or otherwise difficult to deal with should there be no curator available.

I'd be happy to send you some information offline if you are interested.

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Laura Rice
Chief Curator
The Adirondack Museum
Blue Mountain Lake NY

Original Message:
Sent: 11-07-2015 11:19 AM
From: David Beard
Subject: Abandoned Property & Unwanted Donations

Geri:
We all want it to be that simple, but in practice, I have not seen such policies work all the time at any of the museums I have worked.  Volunteers and student assistants are often unwilling to deal with someone intent on donating the most important object ever to the museum.  If staff are present, then they can be called down to deal with the situation, but on weekends and certain holidays this becomes a problem.  I have shipped objects back to people COD if they were found to have been rude or aggressive toward my staff or volunteers.  If no donor information is available and we do not want it, we have either tossed it in the dumpster (where it would often end up in any event) and even sold stuff on ebay and used funds for staff and volunteer parties.

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David Beard
Director
Museum of the Gulf Coast
Port Arthur TX

We have an anonymous donor that mails in donations with no return address (or, if a return address is included, it is the museum's address). Sometimes the material would be a nice addition to the collection, and sometimes it is not something we are interested in accessioning, but either way I have no donor information and no way to make contact. I'm interested to hear if anyone has dealt with a similar situation.

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Whitney Broadaway
Collections Manager
Orange County Regional History Center
Orlando FL

On occasion, we arrive in the morning and discover an unsolicited, undocumented donation.  If it's something we can't use or if another area institution can't use it, we obliterate the donation and place it in a trash bag for the trash.

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Rick Jenkins
Registrar
Holland MI
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Hello Keri,

Most states have a "doorstep donation" section in their laws related to museum property. For example, in Indiana, we need to wait 90 days for the item(s) to be reclaimed (to essentially confirm it was indeed intended as a donation and not simply left by mistake) and then the museum has clear title.

What we do here is record the date of arrival/discovery, present the item(s) to our collections committee for determination of what to do when the 90 days are up (collect, sell, dispose) and then proceed when clear title has been established per that law. 

It is a bit tedious to hold stuff in the interim but we have a designated place for it and each item has a note with it that indicated its date of arrival and date of ownership so we know at a glance if something is due for accessioning/disposal.

In my experience, states have tended to copy each other for museum property laws so I wouldn't be surprised if California's is similar but you'll have to check. In case it helps, the specific verbiage used in Indiana is "presumption of gift" under IC 32-34-5-16

Good luck!

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Michelle Nash
Curator of Collections
Elkhart County Historical Museum
Bristol IN
Curator of Collections
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-05-2024 02:47 PM
From: Rick Jenkins
Subject: Abandoned Property & Unwanted Donations

On occasion, we arrive in the morning and discover an unsolicited, undocumented donation.  If it's something we can't use or if another area institution can't use it, we obliterate the donation and place it in a trash bag for the trash.

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Rick Jenkins
Registrar
Holland MI
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Along with these ideas, why not donate those items, assuming they're not actual trash and even that label is debatable?  Someone wants that item. There may be multiple ways to gift items or donate them to keep them out of the landfill and make someone happy, too. Perhaps you have someone on your staff who regularly deals in thrifting and the gift economy and would take the time to dispose of these donations where they might benefit someone else.. It may take a little time, but this is another consideration.

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Tiffane White JD
Museum Educator
The Phillips Collection
Washington DC
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