Donating Objects to the History of Diving Museum (HDM) Collection
Through generous donations and gifts from individual contributors, our Collection continues to grow as a public resource. The Museum is always happy to consider donations that will enhance the breadth and depth of its Collection, however, we have procedures in place to handle potential donations.
Contact the Collections & Exhibits Manager
Email collections@divingmuseum.org, providing as much information as you can about the object(s) you wish to donate to HDM. The more information available about an object, the better we will be able to determine if and how it fits into our Collection. Below are the major points we are looking for:
- What is the object and for what purpose is or was it used?
- When, where, and by whom was it created?
- When and under what circumstances did you come to own it (gift, purchase, inheritance, etc.)?
- Any other information that might be relevant to the object’s fabrication, use, or associated history.
The Collections & Exhibits Manager will contact you for any further information that HDM may need and tell you more about the procedure we use in deciding whether to accept your generous offer.
Please do not drop off or mail objects without first contacting the museum – we want to ensure that your potential donation is properly identified and is able to be cared for. HDM has limited exhibition and storage space, and is not obligated to keep what you send.
Donation Acceptance
As you may imagine, we cannot accept all items offered to us. Every potential acquisition needs to relate to our Mission Statement and should be relevant to the history of diving. Additionally, most donations need to be able to improve the Museum’s ability to tell the history of diving. Surplus objects or objects too similar to what is already in the collection will often not be accepted. Frequently we already have examples of items offered and would not wish to duplicate these. HDM may be unable to accept your donation for a variety of other reasons. Some objects may be more appropriate to another museum, in which case we will try to give you the names and contact details of museums that may be interested. In other cases we may be unable to accept items which are in very poor condition or which will occupy a large amount of space.
Because HDM cannot provide appraisals, any appraisal on an object would need to be through an independent third party. It is the responsibility of donors to confer with their tax advisers regarding the tax benefits, details, and implications of donations. Once formally accepted as a donation (finalized by a Deed of Gift signed by both HDM and the donor), items become part of the Museum’s collections and are treated accordingly.