Date: Thu, 30 Dec 2010 19:37:29 -0600 Message-ID: <AANLkTinDAgk0OBfsRgLhMSCgKjMYukwZHSfZ0MFjUxaf@mail.gmail.com> Subject: Re: Temporary Custody Receipt & Deed of Gift forms issue From: Maureen Giese <renie.giese@gmail.com>
I have never heard of TCR-Temporary Custody Receipt- forms. At the
Waterloo Area Historical Society the Deed of Gift is used and signed,
two copies, one to the donor and one on file. I think the State Local
History representatives would have a "legal" answer. I have found that
donors are very happy to donate items and are not "legally" involved
in the particulars. We do have some items on loan, but the people who
have been contacted feel keep it until I want it, and most do not want
to bother with it. There is only one item I can think of. (On loan) I
am not familiar with Past Perfect Software, but perhaps Local History
representatives would be the people to know as most of the matching
awards for the Mini-Grants have been awarded by them and Local History
Members - that is Past Perfect Software.
Possibly we are getting too technical and too legal in this day and age??
Maureen Giese, President and Curator, Waterloo Area Historical Society
On Thu, Dec 30, 2010 at 3:34 PM, Jack Berndt <JFBerndt1@frontier.com> wrote
:
> In the past year 2010, a new staff of volunteers has discovered
upwards of a
> hundred-plus (no exact number...) old Temporary Custody Receipt (TCR) f
orms
> scattered about our museum. These are copied word for word from
the Past
> Perfect software program and typically include the donor's name. As I'm
sure
> many of you know, the TCR forms represent the initial phase in acquir
ing an
> artifact, and when correct procedure is followed, the next step is
> to complete and sign the Deed of Gift, to ensure legal ownership of a
> donation. Therein lies our problem - for whatever reason in the p
ast -
> a subsequent Deed of Gift was not completed much of the time. In
> addition, the TCRs are often partially filled out, some are signed
by the
> donor, many are not. Choice boxes were left unchecked. These forms go
back
> through the past decade, into the late 1990s. And as you might expect,
a
> few of the donors are no longer living.
>
> From an ethical and/or legal standpoint, are we as the current museum
> caretakers obligated to go through each and every one of these aged and
> inherited TCR forms in an attempt to secure a signed Deed of Gift f
rom the
> donor; or when warranted, relatives of the donor? We have been doing
this,
> but it is a daunting and overwhelming task in terms of time and
> research. Our historical society has a very small number of staff
(all
> unpaid volunteers) and given the usual attrition with this kind of help
, it
> will predictably take years and years to work on this problem. An
d the final
> count is not in... we are continually finding more TCRs as we look thro
ugh
> and catalog our collection!
>
> Our museum has recently changed the collections policy so that from
now on,
> "going forward" - a Deed of Gift is immediately signed by a donor givin
g
> us legal ownership of an item(s) at the time of the initial exchange.
Based
> on these findings as described, the Board of Directors is also asking t
his
> important question: do we legally own the articles in our museum
when there
> is no documented signed Deed of Gift, only a signedTemporary Custody Rece
ipt
> associated with that item?
>
> We're considering legal consultation at some point, but are curious if
this
> scenario is unique or have other museums encountered a similar situat
ion.
> Any comments or suggestions would be welcomed.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Jack Berndt,
> Sauk Prairie Area Historical Society
> Board of Directors & Acting Museum Manager