Open Forum

Hello all,

We've got a large item (piano) that was loaned to us in 1947, and it was noted in 1956 in loan records as not having been returned. We would like to dispose of it, but I'm not sure where to start looking for the lender (long since passed away and am not sure that there were descendants) and some basic internet searching only turned up historic newspaper mentions of the lender at society events. Unfortunately there is no documentation that attempts were made to contact the lender back in the day, so we're starting from scratch, except for the list from 1956 of unreturned loans (FYI, several notations were made in pencil during successive years of other loans on the list that were turned into donations, or returned, but no such luck on the piano).

Any suggestions or similar experiences to share would be most appreciated. Many, many thanks for your help.

Best,

Nezka

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Nezka Pfeifer
Curator
Everhart Museum of Natural History, Science & Art
Scranton PA
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Check out your state's unclaimed property laws. In my state, loans convert to gifts after 25 years from written contact on the assumption that items left with a museum for a long period are actually intended to be gifts. But laws vary by state. RCAAM has a document with some of the relevant information (the link is a .doc which google could find but I couldn't find it linked from their website).

I also found the Found In Collections website which has some good procedural advice, as well as information on relevant laws. 

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Kaia Landon
Executive Director
Brigham City Museum-Gallery
Brigham City UT
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