[NHCOLL-L:2920] Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat etc.

[Jane MacKnight]

Registrars and Natural History Collections Managers:  I need opinions/advice.  Cincinnati Museum Center has coats, hats, stoles, muffs, rugs etc. made from a variety of animal skins. Many of these items we do not want and cannot provide the appropriate cold vault storage (nor do we want to). 

They have been acquired over the years by both our natural history museum and historical society (we're a merged museum).  We have culled representative items for our various scientific, educational and exhibit uses and still have surplus apparel.

The zoology curator has presented three coats (seal skin -- species unknown, ocelot and leopard) and two muffs (beaver or bear and seal skin -- again species unknown) for deaccession.  Obviously we have a mix of protected species, possibly-protected species and maybe-unprotected species.  Most of the deed of gifts are dated mid to late 1970s with no record of when the donor purchased the apparel, in other words I have absolutely no assurance or documentation that they are pre-CITES.

Here's where I need advice and opinions. If I recommend deaccessioning -- how do we dispose of them?  We would gladly transfer to another educational repository but my sense is that most museums with natural history collections already have sufficient representation of apparel made from protected species.  I have already talked about an exhibit about trade in endangered and protected species without success and even our Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources cannot use them (but they are looking for some types of waterfowl....).

This is just the beginning -- the history curator wants to deaccession the furs in his collection too.

Thanks for your thoughts and ideas.  And please let me know if your institution is dying for an undocumented ocelot coat!
Jane

Jane MacKnight
Registrar
Cincinnati Museum Center
T (513) 287-7092
F (513) 455-7169
Cell (513) 478-8168



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