It was actually me who wrote it - Martin kindly posted it on my behalf.
The issue of incentives is interesting, considering that a huge quantity of records have been deposited or donated by organisations and individuals with no thought of material reward. So why do they do it? Reasons may be as individual as the people involved, but I would guess that amongst them are concerns that the past is preserved for future generations, that people understand more about a community, family or time period and to become part of written history.
Yes, there are tax breaks, but I would guess that these mainly apply to the owners of larger collections, such as those of landed estates. The amount of form filling and valuations that would enable, say the depositor of a bundle of First World War letters to take advantage of this would be unlikely to be worthwhile. Also, independent funding often has to be found for items accepted in lieu of tax - this was the case when Northamptonshire Record Office purchased the Finch Hatton estate papers recently. Sadly, other important collections are now being considered for sale - so not a totally theoretical risk that collections may be withdrawn for this reason.
Finally - and call me an old hippy - doesn't it seem rather sad that our expectation is that people will now need a cash incentive to ensure their own heritage is preserved for the future? Generations of people have given their documents to record offices without this incentive - and many during times that were less secure and affluent than our own. It's one of the things that makes being an archivist such a great job.
I certainly don't want to come to work to sit in front of e-bay thinking up new ways of increasing our acquisitions budget.
Jenny Moran
Public Services Manager
Northamptonshire Record Office (but opinions are my own)
On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 09:36:51 -0500
Peter Kurilecz <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> In a message dated 11/22/2004 9:04:08 AM Eastern Standard Time, Taylor Martin <[log in to unmask]> writes:
>
> > Whilst the quantity and
> >nature of records being sold may not be a problem right now, are we to
> >expect increasing numbers of collections being withdrawn for sale?
>
> let's consider this aspect. What incentives exist that will entice an individual to donate a collection to a repository? If a repository/archive/museum lacks the funds to purchase a collection what other incentives exist? Are there any tax benefits available to the donor. If not, why not?
>
>
> --
> Peter A. Kurilecz CRM, CA
> Richmond, Va
> [log in to unmask]
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