Dealings with Museums. Loan agreements

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Member for

12 years 5 months

Posts: 388

I'm considering loaning some items to a Museum and wonder if any members have a copy of a 'loan agreement' that they have used. I've heard stories of items going missing from Museums etc or of things been damaged. Has anyone got a template of a loan agreement that can be amended to suit ?

Original post

Member for

19 years 9 months

Posts: 1,424

Make sure that your items are covered my their insurance as well!!

Member for

11 years 10 months

Posts: 421

If the museum is one of any substance they will already have their standard loan agreement available for you to consider. It will have sections which can be customised, for example the period of loan and the options at the end of the period. If they don't have such an agreement form then I would be wary as they clearly have no experience of loan agreements.

Member for

16 years 7 months

Posts: 5,927

I doubt if 'their insurance' would cover a museum, which deliberately destroys or disposes of a loaned item, in respect of a claim by the owner for its non-return when demanded. And furthermore, if the nature of the loan has not been agreed with precision, before the loan is made, there's the risk that the museum may argue that it was a gift rather than a loan. It has to be better to agree and record the terms of the loan, in writing, and have that agreement signed by the parties before the item is passed to the museum. It's rather like a pre-nup agreement. When you sign it you never expect to have to rely on it - but if things go sour and you do have to rely on it, you're mightily glad that you have a water tight agreement on which you can rely!

But there's another angle on the 'their insurance' aspect. Sometimes an item loaned is unique and/or has inestimable personal value. An insurer will only ever offer what it considers to be the monetary value of the item. It cannot replace the invaluable and the irreplaceable.

Member for

16 years 7 months

Posts: 5,927

Whilst I know that this relates to the USA, it might be helpful to you. I found it after googling 'loan of artefact to a uk museum' - which produced absolutely nothing relating to making a loan of an artefact to a UK museum. Might one draw certain conclusions from that?

Member for

20 years

Posts: 4,561

AndyY is absolutely correct. Most museums will have a standard form of receipt. However, our Museum along with I suspect a great many others now only accept donated items unless its something very special indeed which we'd like to display when we would agree a loan with the owner.
TT

Member for

19 years 2 months

Posts: 1,317

I would suggest not to loan anything to a museum, unless its for a specific exhibition or very limited timescale. If you are and they are happy to receive an item for longer I feel that a donation is appropriate. Remember once they have it they can dispose of it as they wish. What the current collecting policy may be can and will change with different people in charge.

Member for

18 years 10 months

Posts: 4,796

Loaned some parts to a museum, it changed hands, everything was stolen/sold off.

Member for

20 years 5 months

Posts: 1,891

I knew someone who loaned items to the Science Museum, as far as they were concerned it belonged to them when he tried to get it back. Was going through a very long ongoing court battle when he died.

Member for

14 years 11 months

Posts: 1,755

I would also include a clause that the articles on loan are to be automatically returned if the museum in question changes ownership. Just finished a three-year long complicated tug-of-war that started with a museum going into receivership then being taken over by a commercial company.

Member for

18 years 2 months

Posts: 7,742

Just to add a counterpoint to this discussion - sometimes a museum can struggle to get people loaning items into a collection to fulfil the obligations that have been incorporated into signed loan agreements; this too can lead to disputes. I have had the 'pleasure' of trying to deal with such situations!

Member for

16 years 7 months

Posts: 5,927

Other than releasing the item at the inception of and collecting the item at the conclusion of the loan, what other obligations might the lender have under a loan agreement?

Member for

18 years 2 months

Posts: 7,742

Many and varied obligations e.g. financial implications for termination of a loan agreement early, when a museum has paid the transportation costs of the exhibit (that issue was never settled, the museum was left out of pocket and I was personally threatened over the matter); helping to return an exhibit to a an acceptable display standard in lieu of agreeing to take the exhibit on loan; etc. etc.

Just saying that there are two sides to any loan agreement.

Member for

18 years 1 month

Posts: 1,405

There are very few museums I would lend items to these days. I had a friends father and son who lent a cockpit section to a museum for many years. When the asked for it back a the people who the had made the agreement with had passed away.. So when they asked for it back they got refused, never getting it back. The father then passed away so the son gave up trying to get it back. One of the few museums I do trust is Sywell ( well done TT). But I don't have anything they would be interested in these days.

Dave

Member for

11 years 10 months

Posts: 421

All these tales of woe seem to indicate that a properly written loan agreement hasn't been agreed and signed by both parties at the start of the loan period.

Member for

19 years 5 months

Posts: 9,821

If you're loaning something of considerable economic value, I'd suggest showing the museum's loan agreement to a solicitor that YOU hire.
It never hurts to have a second pair of eyes, especially one that has your interests at heart, take a look.

Also, I'd keep any personal insurance in place. That way you're not limited by their insurance coverage if disaster strikes. Their insurance may not cover items not belonging to them, or their coverage limit may not be large enough (i.e. their claims are at the head of the que, so when you hold out your hand you're told... "Sorry, no money left".

Member for

19 years 2 months

Posts: 1,317

A loan agreement may have a clause to enable the museum to oblige the "owner" to remove the item when requested. If you have no-where to put an item such as a fuselage or cockpit and have no funds to move it. What do you do?

Member for

19 years 5 months

Posts: 9,821

I can't imagine anyone having the wherewithal to own a cockpit but being so broke they can't move it.

Certainly the logistics of the move would take time, especially since relatively few people (in the UK at least), have trucks and trailers.

Member for

18 years 2 months

Posts: 7,742

On average I reckon that I turn down a request to loan something significant to Newark at least once every two weeks.

It might also surprise some people that many museums often actually talk to each other before they take items on loan. In several situations I’ve also been involved in providing feedback for what almost amounts to a ‘reference’ before other museums take something on loan.

Equally, I have made similar enquiries on behalf of Newark, so they can consider items being offered on loan; I’'ve done this within the last 7 days and the information provided has helped the museum trustees to make a decision on whether or not to proceed. In this most recent case the decision was taken not to proceed!

I’ve also helped in advising someone on how to secure the safe retune of personal ‘loaned’ items, which an Accredited museum was trying to claim title to; it took a while but a solution was achieved.

Member for

6 years 7 months

Posts: 70

In 2011 I loaned some historical documentation to the local museum, ultimately the papers were donated.

Here is a scan of Oxfordshire County Council's Museum Service conditions of deposit at the time.

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