I would like to thank everyone who replied to my inquiry. Included in this posting is a summary of the responses garnered along with the original question.
Dear List,
At our repository we have a hodgepodge of items from different eras...therefore different ways of accepting donations. We are currently trying to get on track. I would like to know if any of you know the ethical/legal answer to the following:
If there are items with what we deem as "old numbers" from an old/no-longer-existent museum and no paperwork transferring ownership to the museum--it is legally ours...more specifically should we consider it already "accessioned?"
Thank you & happy 4th of July!
Kind Regards,
Ashley McLendon
Archivist
Mississippi Armed Forces Museum
Camp Shelby, MS
You may want to retain the previous accession numbers in a note, but it should still have an accession number that matches your system for tracking collections. If you have any documentation indicating how you acquired the collection that should also be accessioned in the ownership/provenance/origins part of your system.
If the old museum has old numbers you could potentially run into a numbering conflict where an old museum number is the same as your current repository, and this could be very difficult to resolve in later years. I think you must assume that the collection needs to be treated as a new accession for purposes of documentation, while remarking that some processes may have been completed by the previous institution.
I've run into this kind of thing--I've found stuff in collections of a small local history museum that had frequent periods without a professional. The officers would "accept" things and the documentation and lack of documentation varied widely--depending on which officer happened to be around or even if anyone happened to be around. And yes, I encountered the situation where a specific item was claimed by two different individuals, neither having any documentation. Yes, it really does happen, and you don't have to be talking about claims for internationally acclaimed art....
Our University acquired a former “museum” of a local collector by gift of the collector. Almost immediately people began contacting us either asking us to check to see if the collector had a xxxx family Bible, and other items, and alleging that these had been loaned to him and they wanted the items back.
Because the “collector” did not keep a good system of paperwork for the materials, our attorneys took the position that it was up to a claimant to prove the item was a loan or how it had come into the University’s possession. That sounds harsh ethically, but clearly the only way to prevent or halt multiple false claims.
In short, no, you can’t just assume that the items are yours, that there may arrive claims to items. I would carefully in the files and paperwork document these….I use a phrase “found in backlog” to mean items that I’ve found from my predecessor for which there are no documentation for how acquired. The likelihood of anyone ever claiming these is very very remote, but I’d rather err in the paperwork to leave a current trail than just assume these are ours period.
If it has been there more than 27.5 years claim it [Although, I am unsure of the justification for this…]
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