Donate an Item for the Collection

If you have an item you would like to the Historical Society to consider for donation, please contact the curator at curator@lakewoodhistory.org or call 216-221-7343. It is helpful to send a photograph, a description of the item, and some basic background information.

The curator in consultation with the executive director and the Collections Committee will make the determination if the item will be accepted into the permanent collection.

To donate items for our sales, please call the office at (216) 221-7343 or check out events page for "Donation Drop-off Days."

Documents and objects being considered for acceptance must meet the following tests of acquisition before being acquired by the Society:

      1. The objects must be relevant to and consistent with the purposes and activities of the Society.
      2. The Society can provide for the storage, protection, maintenance, and preservation of the materials or objects under conditions that ensure their availability for museum purposes and in keeping with professionally accepted standards.
      3. Items will have permanency in the collections as long as they retain their physical integrity, their authenticity, and/or as long as they remain useful for the purposes of the Society.
      4. The materials or objects must, if possible, be documented as to provenance and have good physical integrity.
      5. All moral, legal and ethical implications of the acquisition must have been considered.
      6. All donations of materials are considered outright and unconditional gifts to be used at the discretion of the society.
      7. Title to all objects acquired shall be free and clear, without restriction to use or future disposition.

PLEASE NOTE:

No materials or objects shall be knowingly or willfully accepted or acquired which are known to have been illegally collected in the United States contrary to state law, federal law, regulation, treaty, and/or convention.

The Society subscribes to the provisions of the ICOM Convention of 1970. The Society shall refuse to acquire materials and objects where there is cause to believe that the circumstances of their collection involved needless destruction of historic sites, buildings, structures, habitats, districts, and objects.