Loans or donations to museums

[billyb]

This is all very good information, great thread.

[icollectDCsports]

I'd want to know just who exactly was going to handle your items. The museum representative may be professional and inspire confidence, but the person or persons who handle, set up for display, remove from display, and package items for return may not always be as experienced or professional. And, let's face it, there are some folks who think of old sports items as nothing more than neat junk. I've heard of some bad experiences due to such folks, usually well-meaning but either not respectful or knowledgeable, making mistakes with sports memorabilia on loan. Odds are you'll be fine and you'll be doing a service to your community, but get the info you need to provide the appropriate level of comfort with the various issues raised by the insightful posts here.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by icollectDCsports

I'd want to know just who exactly was going to handle your items. The museum representative may be professional and inspire confidence, but the person or persons who handle, set up for display, remove from display, and package items for return may not always be as experienced or professional. And, let's face it, there are some folks who think of old sports items as nothing more than neat junk. I've heard of some bad experiences due to such folks, usually well-meaning but either not respectful or knowledgeable, making mistakes with sports memorabilia on loan. Odds are you'll be fine and you'll be doing a service to your community, but get the info you need to provide the appropriate level of comfort with the various issues raised by the insightful posts here.

Steve Harding, the curator of The Nolan Ryan center had curated other museums previously, so I was confident that the result would be good.
The final result was excellent. In many ways, I believe that the exhibit was much nicer than even Cooperstown.

PS
One final thought. I had custom acrylic ticket holders made for my tickets that were used in the exhibit by a guy out in So Ca. This eliminated handling errors because the tickets were protected.
The ticket on the right was from Nolan's 500th career strikeout. This was also his 1st pitching appearance with the Angels, 1st win, & ironically his career win # 30 which was his uniform number. Note the # 14 on the ticket. This was ticket # 14 in the Ryan Milestone ticket wall and the key for the display had the description of what the milestone was...

[icollectDCsports]

Originally Posted by Scott Garner

Steve Harding, the curator of The Nolan Ryan center had curated other museums previously, so I was confident that the result would be good.
The final result was excellent. In many ways, I believe that the exhibit was much nicer than even Cooperstown.

PS
One final thought. I had custom acrylic ticket holders made for my tickets that were used in the exhibit by a guy out in So Ca. This eliminated handling errors because the tickets were protected.
The ticket on the right was from Nolan's 500th career strikeout. This was also his 1st pitching appearance with the Angels, 1st win, & ironically his career win # 30 which was his uniform number. Note the # 14 on the ticket. This was ticket # 14 in the Ryan Milestone ticket wall and the key for the display had the description of what the milestone was...

Really like those acrylic holders for the tickets. Just the right size and they don't detract from the tickets.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by icollectDCsports

Really like those acrylic holders for the tickets. Just the right size and they don't detract from the tickets.

Thank you. The guy that made these really did a super job on them.
Ironically, he went blind in both eyes shortly after making these for me and was never able to make any more of them.

[icollectDCsports]

Originally Posted by Scott Garner

Thank you. The guy that made these really did a super job on them.
Ironically, he went blind in both eyes shortly after making these for me and was never able to make any more of them.

Wow. That's terrible.

[bigfanNY]

About 4 years ago I was cataloging my collection and came across a photo of the Clemson baseball Team from 1903. I did a little research and found the John Heisman was the coach that year and was in the photo. I contacted the library and was told that they did not have an original photo of the team just a recent copy and they would be very interested in obtaining the photo. after a few emails I donated the photo to the Clemson Library in memory of my Dog who had passed away asking that when the photo was displayed that I be notified (so I could visit) and that my Dog always be mentioned as Donner of the photo. I was told that they would be happy to comply with both requests.
What I learned was that once they take possession of the item all bets are off they can do or not do whatever they want with the item. Sad in a way but I do not regret the donation. I tried to do a nice thing and what they do is completely on them.
Jonathan .