[Milsurplus] Donating to "Museums" (was "Dance")

[David Stinson]

While I've encountered good ones,
like the 8th Air Force Museum at Barksdale,
I've had bad experiences with some of them.
Museums are not my first choice.  
They will either put your stuff in a box in a warehouse, 
where it will stay, unstudied and unseen until Judgment Day,
or, after a few years of the above, throw it out during a "clean up"
or after they fail financially. 

Or something worse:
I won't mention any names or places (these people have free lawyers),
but a friend of mine was a serious collector and scholar 
of American Civil War items.  He was also an amateur archeologist.
He would find and dig sites no one else knew, 
carefully documenting everything.  When he passed away,
his entire collection and documentation were donated
to what is supposed to be a respected, state college-run "museum."
All of his documentation- the work of his life- has been lost.
Almost 50% of the relic collection has disappeared,
with no accounting of any kind.  "Museum" officials,
too busy with tuxedoed wine and cheese parties,
will "look into it."  Uh huh.......

I have the guidance head for a Nike Ajax missile.
Pretty neat piece of 1960s tech.
Ya'll may remember me looking for a good place to donate it.
Three "museums" wanted it; practically slavered over it.  
One was suspect, since it seemed to want anything 
and everything that had an electron in it, 
yet no one had ever heard of  them. 
Two others, both themed for this kind of item,
spent most of their time telling me the people
who ran the other museum were a bunch of jerks.
None of them are going to get it; it's still in storage
and will stay there until I get the bad taste of 
"gimme gimme" out of my mouth.
People usually don't appreciate or value 
"give away" stuff anyhow....

Give me an appreciative and responsible
private collector over a "museum" any day.
Private collectors have passion for the items
for which they have become the temporary caretakers.
For a "museum," it's just business.

73 Dave S.