About two years ago we had a donor contact the museum with a possible donation. They brought the items to us for review and left them here. As far as I can tell no temporary custody receipt was signed. Our curator at the time and the board approved the donation of three of the items, and the rest we planned to decline. The donor was sent a blank deed of gift to sign, but did not respond to multiple attempts to contact them. Then we had some staff turnover and the position of curator was vacant for a while so no one followed up with the donor. Currently, the items are still sitting on my desk. We've made multiple attempts this month to contact the donor again via phone and email - again, no response. Based on a whitepages search I'm fairly certain they still live at the address we were given two years ago.
I'm uncertain how abandoned property laws in Texas apply to a situation like this. I know that long term museum loans are specifically addressed by the law, but this is a donation offer and not a loan. We also know the owner's location so regular property laws don't seem to apply either. I'm thinking of sending a certified letter to verify the address and maybe get a response, but I'm not sure what to do if they continue to ghost. We don't want to keep all of the items, but I feel uneasy about just mailing some or all of them back. I'm also not sure whether we can accession the ones we did want, and I don't have any email records from the donor to prove intent to donate.
Has anyone else dealt with a similar situation? Thanks.
Rachel Hooper
Museum Curator
Rosenberg Library - Galveston, Texas
rhooper@rosenberg-library.org