[ARC5] US Army Signal Corps Museum

[sbjohnston at aol.com]

I used to think that donating to a museum was a good way to preserve an historical artifact. It still can be, I'm sure, but it is not guaranteed.   I was soured by several experiences over the years.  

After being told how great it was that my rare and historically-interesting items were being donated, and receipts provided, I noticed my donations never appeared in the collections of the museums in question.  When I inquired (saying I wanted to do some further research on the items) I was told they did not have them in their collections.  

When I pointed out that I donated them a few years earlier, they were unwilling or unable to explain what happened to them.  My guess it they were either stolen by those who accepted the donations, or they were sold to finance other operations and acquisitions of the museum.  

I don't mention this to discourage people from donating artifacts to museums, but rather to just create awareness that preservation of your items is not necessarily what will happen and one just has to decide if that's OK.
 
 
Steve WD8DAS

sbjohnston at aol.com
http://www.wd8das.net/http://af4k-crystals.com
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