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Re: Help needed - "deaccessioning"



Tom,
        You run into both ethical and legal issues here.  From my understanding,
"accessioning" means you are accepting the item for permanent retention in
your not-for-profit collecting repository.  Ethically, you shouldn't
accession it if you know your plans are to "deaccession" it and sell it.  If
you want someone to donate it for the sole purpose of selling it to make
some money, that can be done (as far as I know), but you better spell it out
in detail and make sure everybody involved knows exactly what the plan is,
or you could have P R problems as well as ethical and legal ones to deal
with later on.  As to how long you have to hold on to it before you sell it,
that is governed by the IRS, the last I knew.  I.e., you can sell it any
time you want to, but the donor can't take it IRS charitable gift deduction
if you sell it too soon.  Sounds like you need to pass this by an attorney.

Catherine Bruck
University Archivist
Illinois Institute of Technology
Paul V. Galvin Library
35 W. 33rd St.
Chicago, IL  60616
312/567-6840
312/567-5318 (FAX)
bruck@iit.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: Archives & Archivists [mailto:ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU]On
Behalf Of Thomas Berry
Sent: Monday, August 06, 2001 10:36 AM
To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
Subject: Help needed - "deaccessioning"


Good morning, everyone, and many thanks to all who offered advice and
guidance on my last question. Here's another.

One of our directors has had a brilliant (to him, anyway) idea. He thinks we
can make money selling collectible construction equipment. (For the
uninitiated, there is a sizable interest in collecting machinery beyond farm
tractors.) His brainstorm is to invite people to donate unwanted machinery
to the HCEA to be sold as a fundraiser.

Beyond the obvious questions of logistics, time, business practices and the
like, I've been asked to get your advice:

1.    Has any other organizaation done such a thing?
2.    Are there any statutes that may apply concerning how long a donation
of this scale, on the order of $1,000 to $5,000 appraisal value, be retained
before         it is deaccessioned?
3.    Would accessioning and deaccessioning would even apply in this
situation?

Best wishes,

Thomas (good grief, what next?) Berry, Archivist
Historical Construction Equipment Association
16623 Liberty Hi Road
Bowling Green, Ohio 43402
Phone 419-352-5616
Fax 419-352-6086
tberry@hcea.net
http://www.hcea.net

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