Hello,
My museum was recently contacted by a donor advising us that he wanted to bequest us artifacts in his will but wanted to know in advance if they were items we would actually want to collect. This situation has not come up for me before and our current collections policy doesn't have a stipulation for it. I've seen other museums encourage donors to advise them in advance of a potential bequest but am wondering how they handle those situations once they arise. I'm assuming some record is kept of the initial assessment of the collections committee? Is there any sort of statement generated clarifying that such an assessment is only a prediction of what may be collected when the bequest actually comes to pass? Is it appropriate to ask to see the will verbiage? I see the New England Regional Art Museum offers donors guidance on verbiage:
http://www.neram.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/NERAMbequestWebA4.pdfAny insight would be very much appreciated.
Thank you!
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Michelle Nash
Elkhart County Historical Museum
Bristol IN
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