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Re: On-line auctions



<<What are the ethical
ramifications surrounding selling deaccessioned items in online auctions?
What type of image do patrons get when they see a museum or
archives "selling" their collections? >>


I'm going to respond to this on two levels.  As an employee of a government
archives, I don't have this problem; because citizens do not interact with
government (as a rule) by choice, we either preserve or destroy.  We don't
have a manuscript repository or a museum's option to deaccession by selling.

As a private citizen, I've donated a couple of personal possessions
(child-sized sea moss rakes made for me by my father, when I was 8 years old
and going along with him to work on the off-shore ledges that appear at low
water off the Maine coast) to the Maine State Museum.  I know perfectly well
that they deaccession holdings regularly, and I understand why; their
registrar is a dear friend.  BUT.  I would be very upset if I saw those
little moss rakes, made by my now deceased father's loving hands, on eBay!!!
I'm not in a position to say, "If they did that, I'd never donate anything
again," because (rueful chuckle) I probably don't have another possession
that would interest a museum.  But I'd bet money other people who DO have
important donor potential would feel just the way I do about this.

My own opinion, for whatever it's worth.

Nina M. Osier, Director
Division of Records Management Services
Maine State Archives

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