In my first museum job, many years ago, a relative of the original owner of a lovely group of Shaker-made baskets and pottery sent word that he had been in the building recently, did not see the items on display anywhere, and demanded to know that they were indeed still at the museum. We set an appointment, got the items out of storage, and were prepared to explain how honored we were to have them in our care. There was no question that the items were pertinent to the museum's mission, even though not currently on public view. As others have pointed out, museums collect for many reasons besides exhibition.
The man came, and claimed the relative who had first brought them to the museum never intended them to be a gift. They were strictly on loan, and now that he knew the museum had not done anything nefarious with them, he had come to take them back. However, he could not produce any proof of the loan. We couldn't produce paperwork that documented an outright transfer of ownership either, but we weren't about to release them on the spot. The man who wanted them back got pretty ugly about it and even threatened to bust up everything I had carefully laid out on the table, which struck me as odd since the items probably would have brought a nice sum at auction. Why demand to have them returned only to destroy them? A security officer came and the man stormed out, insisting we would soon hear from his lawyers.
I was distraught, not least because no one had ever attacked my personal integrity so hatefully, but as the registrar I set myself the task of combing through every place I could think of that might have a paper record of the original transaction. (This was before the days when anything was on a computer.) Eventually I found a card that did in fact say the items were on loan, and the owner's nephew was the sole person authorized to have them returned. I gathered all my courage to make the phone call to the nephew to acknowledge that we had found the documentation, and would return the items.
When a lady answered the phone and I asked for Mr. So-and-so, there was a long pause. Finally she said, That was my husband, and he died several month ago. I was initially shocked by this turn of events and stammered something about his having been at the museum recently, which only made her upset. I managed to apologize and get off the phone before committing any further blunders, and start doing some serious research in the obituaries, which should have been Step One after finding the missing record. The death had occurred before the museum had ever been contacted about returning the items. Based on the obit's list of surviving kin, it appeared that the irate relative who had demanded them was impersonating his dead cousin.
That falsehood probably explains why he never followed through with legal action. I started sleeping better at night after that, knowing that my career in the museum field was not going to end early by being hauled into court. But it was a very valuable lesson. The place where I found the note yielded similar important documentation about several other collection items, but thankfully that was the only instance that ownership was challenged during my time there.
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Deborah Smith
Consultant Belfast Maine
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-29-2017 04:46 PM
From: Charles Hinman
Subject: Family members want donated object returned
We have visitors who come and ask to see objects that were donated by family members who no longer are living. Recently, we had a visiting family and now they want their item returned because it has not been on display and will not go on display as we are expanding our museum and it is not in the plans.
Has anyone had experience with this request before and recommendations on how to proceed. We at the museum are in agreement to return the item.
Thanks.
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Charles Hinman
Director of Education
Honolulu HI
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