[BCMA] Seeking legal advice about returning donated artifacts.

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.]

Hi all,

We've recently had a request from someone to return items that are in our collection to the family.  A few years ago we obtained a number of old letters (mostly business correspondence) and books as a donation from a the owners of a second hand store.   The member of the family who was originally in possession of the items had donated them to the second hand store when cleaning out their basement.  We were going to purchase them, but the owners of the store offered them to our museum as a donation instead, and we accepted.  We have since made high resolution digital copies of all of the documents.

A different member of the family has recently written to us asking that the items be returned.  This person has visited our archives a number of times to review the letters, and until recently had always been supportive of us having and preserving them.  The person asking for the return of the letters is not the person from whom we received them, nor the person who donated them to the second hand store, but they are married to a grandchild of the person to whom the letters were originally written.

We are in a bit of a quandary as to how to proceed.  We would prefer to keep the letters, or at least  the copies, as they are valuable historical resources, and we have expended a lot of staff time and resources in digitizing and cataloguing them.  However, maintaining a good relationship with the family is important too, and we don't want to cause more animosity by returning them to someone to whom they did not originally belong.

Can anyone recommend legal resources or lawyers that specialize in dealing with this type of issue?  Any advice would be welcome.

Mandy Kilsby
Curator, Barkerville Historic Town
250-994-3302 ext. 35
mandy.kilsby at barkerville.ca<mailto:mandy.kilsby at barkerville.ca>
14301 Highway 26 E.
Box 19, Barkerville BC, V0K 1B0
www.barkerville.ca<http://www.barkerville.ca>

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