When I was active at Yesteryear Museum at Morristown, New Jersey, we
often were offered items as donations.  Generally speaking, these were
related in one way or another to mechanical music in all its fields --
Edisonia and related subjects, and the history of early phonographs,
motion pictures, radio and television -- all of which sprang from the
head of Thomas Alva Edison.

Because Morristown is a hotbed of colonial history (it's called The
Military Headquarters of the Revolution), and because other historical
items popped up in connection with the telegraph (invented by Messrs.
Morse and Vail nearby) and such other interesting things as The Seeing
Eye, Betsy Schuyler and so on, we often would be offered items in these
connections.

Often the donor just didn't want to take the time to do the research
and time to find to what other nonprofit organization it would be best
to donate, so we were asked -- sometimes pleaded with -- to take what
we could use, and do the best we could with the rest.

As members of the Museums Council of New Jersey we had a pretty good
idea, and also many contacts to which we could turn.  As such, we found
a location for a very large antique loom in the Paterson area, the
perfect home.  We were surrounded by local, county, state and federal
choices for colonial, especially military, items, etc.  We and the
other institutions were all very happy with this arrangement, as were
the donors.

To echo what others have said, we made it clear verbally and in
writing that items were accepted with no strings or restrictions as
to where the items would wind up, and to what use they would be put.
To do otherwise would have encouraged all kind of ethical and legal
questions.  However, we did go out of our way to find an appropriate
and suitable new home regardless of the type of material, e.g.,
railroad and canal History, historical clothing, even a fascinating
collection of Masonic items.  I'm sure most organizations can follow
this system.  If not, some well-thought phone calls and suggestions
to the potential donors could be helpful to all concerned.

One thing to remember in all of this -- have fun!  We decided from the
get-go that while our museum was a nonprofit educational institution,
we tried to run it like a tourist attraction.  If it wasn't fun as well
as educational, it was not worth doing on our part, nor visiting by our
visitors, who came from every state in the Union and something like 25
foreign countries.

One other major thing that I would advise all "educational"
institutions: welcome the suggestions, criticisms and corrections.
That's how we, too, learned while we were teaching others!

One of the reasons we started Yesteryear Museum was because when
I traveled around the country I visited anyplace that had mechanical
music, and was appalled to find gorgeous table-model Swiss boxes locked
up tight, band organs that were absolutely pathetic, etc.  We took folk
around room to room in chronological order and played so things could
be seen and heard as they were intended by their makers -- but we did
not allow people to operate anything themselves.  This is possible
in a small location, admittedly not at the Smithsonian or Library of
Congress.

Best to all, Lee Munsick