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<div class="moz-cite-prefix"><font face="Tahoma">W<font
face="Tahoma">e</font> have dealt with this sort of situation
before </font>and I have found that going back to the original
donor usually solves the problem. If they had a right to have the
material and to donate it, then it is yours. Families sometimes
have internal issues that spill over into our world but we can't
solve their spats for them. If you feel assured that the person
who gave you the materials had the right to do so, then I would
offer the disputing family member scanned copies and that may
satisfy them.<br>
<br>
I wouldn't recommend getting expensive lawyers involved until
other avenues have been fully explored.<br>
<br>
Val Patenaude<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">Maple Ridge Museum
22520 116th Ave., Maple Ridge, BC
604.463.5311</pre>
On 12/1/2014 11:09 AM, Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv. wrote:<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Hi all,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Can anyone recommend legal resources or
lawyers that specialize in dealing with this type of issue?
Any advice would be welcome.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Mandy Kilsby<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Curator, Barkerville Historic Town<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">250-994-3302 ext. 35 <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:mandy.kilsby@barkerville.ca"><span
style="color:#0563C1">mandy.kilsby@barkerville.ca</span></a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">14301 Highway 26 E. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Box 19, Barkerville BC, V0K 1B0<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.barkerville.ca"><span style="color:#0563C1">www.barkerville.ca</span></a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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