HMM Newsletter - No. 12, 1997 ISSN 1036-3041

CAVEAT Are you considering donating something of yours to a historical collection? Have you been asked to lend something, that belongs to you or your museum, for another organisation's exhibition? Before you hand over that artefact, consider ... If you are donating an object to a collection: Make sure you are donating it to the right organisation. Perhaps it would be better with your own graduate association or professional organisation rather than with some general collection. Who will own the object after you give it away? If you mean it to go to a publicly accessible collection, make sure you are not giving it to some individual's private collection. Does the organisation have a policy on what happens to objects if the organisation ceases to exist, or if they are disposing of objects? Do they guarantee to contact you before disposing of objects you have donated? If you are in doubt, ring around and ask a few questions about the organistion. HMM can often help you find the right people to ask. Finally, always ask for a receipt or a letter acknowledging your donation and giving details of the object or objects you have donated. If you are lending an object for display, no matter how long or short the duration of the loan: Can the borrower guarantee that they will look after it as well as you would look after it yourself? Will it be handled, stored and transported properly? What are the qualifications of the people who will be handling it? Will it be stored and displayed securely so there is no possibility of theft? Will it be displayed so that there is no possibility of damage from, for example, light and moisture? Will it be out of reach of the public? Does the borrower undertake to acknowledge your loan in the labelling of the exhibition? If you are in doubt, don't be too polite to ask questions. Finally, always ask for a receipt or a letter acknowledging your loan and giving details of the object or objects you have lent. HMM is an information network of people concerned to preserve Australia's health and medicine heritage. We encourage exchange of information and cooperation between members. We are happy to publicize any relevant collections or events in our newsletter. But we are not in the position to endorse any particular collector, museum, exhibition or event other than those actually organised by HMM.

Published by the Australian Science Archives Project on ASAPWeb, 8 August 1997
Prepared by: Lisa Cianci and Lisa O'Sullivan
Updated by: Lisa Cianci
Date modified: 10 August 1998

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