Quote:
Originally Posted by Patsy Tebeau
I'm saying the hall can make a quick buck by selling this stuff off to the stores. I was just pointing out that both parties could potentially benefit from it and stuff wouldnt become lost.
|
So, the way museums and cultural heritage institutions typically work, is that they have an acquisitions policy. This can include a budget for acquiring things, as well as policy on what they will accept in terms of donations etc.
It can also include a framework to sell off items etc, but there are some pretty big ethical challenges associated with that.
For example, if I donated something to the Hall of Fame and they sold it off a year later, I would be pretty upset. After all, I donated the item in good faith with the idea that I was contributing to preserving history etc. But they just made some money off something I gave for free, and that is a seeming violation of their stated goals.
Typically large scale donations come with various contractual obligations, and there is a possibility a donor could agree that items could be sold under certain terms and conditions.
But unless there is explicit written consent, the sale of donated items would open the Hall up to huge amounts of legal risk. And cultural heritage institutions tend to be pretty risk averse. So that is why they don't just sell off excess items.