Heir to Indian headdresses suing Science Center

[kevin airis]

This is not about Items on loan anymore this is about the staff of the science center covering up the fact that they threw out thier collection files and employee files. here is the letter from James Houser to Doug King dated 2/20/2001
Dear Mr. King
A situation has arisen in the collections area which causes me great concern and ,I believe,it is one that merits your prompt attantion. I have been told by some of the collections workers that on returning from the Christmas holidays they saw in the lounge area a large trash receptacle filled and overflowing with files and loose papers. They said that they did not examine the files ,so I can only guess at what those files were. I suspect, however,that they may have been collection files.If this is true,I find it very disturbingthat some one took it upon themself to determine that these files were useless and so consigned them to the trash bin.Anyone with only remedial traing in collections management should know that files and papers relating to collections are important as the objects in the collections.On the rare occasions that files are thrown away it is only after careful review by individuals with thorough knowledge of the collections and the history of those collections.If after such a review,it is decided that records should be made together with the names of those making the decision to depose of the files,the date of the disposal and the reasons for the disposal.

Not only did the apparent destruction of files violate one of the major tenets of collections management it may have at least one very unfortunate consequence,Dr.Charles Sherwin and his wife,volunteers in the collections department, have spent almost a year cataloging the science centers camera collections.When they were called back to continue their work a few weeks ago,they were unable to find the folder of their notes they had compiled on the cameras. In an attempt to track it down,I called Ron Beer who told me that he is certain that he left the folders on top of his filing cabinet.Since I was told that Rons office had been searched and the files and had not been found,I can only assume that they were scooped up and tossed out along with the rest of the material in the lounge area.

Mr. King ,I dont know who was responsible for trashing all those files,Nor do I know who authorized the action. Its done and and cannot be undone,Sadly we will never know what was in those files. please ask those of your staff working in collections not to throw out anymore files until they have carefully considered their actions and consulted with others more knowledgeable as to the value of the files
Thank you for your consideration in this matter
James G Houser

It took me three years to discover what really happened at the science center and to find out what Doug Kings back ground was . the letter you just read is a true copy of the orginal submitted by James Houser the orginal destroyed along with his employee files. This story is getting bigger everyday and that is why this lawsuite is so important to museums to study for their accreditation program
I would be happy to discuss this and show you any material on this to you and your museum on this matter

[kevin airis]

I now have the deposition of the President and the collection manger about this anyone that wants to read these I will show you. court date is October 26 2009 you will be shocked when you read these

[kevin airis]

In the interrogatories to the court and to the FBI the president of the science center said that they employed a private investigation firm to study the matter and do an audit of their records and found them of no wrong doing.In this they named a person,I was able to find the person they named and recieved a letter from her and the other person that was with her when they went to the science center. In the letter I recieved from her she stated she did no audit for them and was not their to do anything that was related to this lawsuit.The museum got her their under false terms so that they could use her and say she did a audit for them. This is what the lawsuit is really about.we can not get them to tell the truth about anything and no cooperation from them at all. They would not talk to my mother before she died and on her death bed her last words were for me to find out what really happened to the loan then she died.I have been trying to get to the bottom of this for three years now and have been lied too every step of the way.KSDK which is our local channel 5 or NBC had this as their top story for Friday and Saturday and when the news men look at all the court doc. they are shocked at the way the president is behaving.and at the amount of Doc. I have this is becoming pretty serious now with the lies that are being told.You can go to KSDK.com (Jefferson county man sues Science Center)to veiw the story.Please talk to your people to be honest when something like this comes up and chances are you wont be involved in a matter like this because all we ask for was the truth.I have at least $50,000 in this so far of my own money $12,000 for the appraisal alone. when this could of been resolved if they would of talked to my mother instead of letting her die wondering what happened.The sad part is they knew how sick she was because I took them pictures of her to show them and beg them to come see her.

[StephGaub]

I was doing some searching today and found the following information regarding loans to museums in MO. Hopefully these procedures were followed...

2. All notices given by a museum pursuant to sections 184.101 to 184.122 shall be mailed by restricted certified mail to the lender's or claimant's last known address shown on the museum's records. Notice is deemed given as of the date of receipt by the lender or claimant if the museum receives proof of receipt by the lender or claimant within thirty days after mailing the notice.

3. If, after a diligent search of its records, the museum does not know the identity of the lender, or does not have an address for the lender or claimant, or if proof of receipt is not received by the museum within thirty days of mailing a notice under subsection 2 of this section, notice is deemed given if the museum publishes notice at least once each week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in both the county, or city if appropriate, in which the museum is located and the county, or city if appropriate, of the lender's or claimant's last address, if known. The date of a notice under this subsection shall be the date of the second published notice. For purposes of this section, a museum is located in the county, or city if appropriate, in which it has its principal place of business, or, if a loan of property was made to a branch of a museum in the county, or city if appropriate, in which the branch is located.

Section 184-104 Notices, information content--notice to

184.106. 1. Unless there is a written loan agreement to the contrary, a museum may apply conservation measures to or dispose of property on loan to the museum without the lender's or claimant's permission and without giving formal notice to the lender or claimant, if immediate action is required to protect the property on loan or other property in the custody of the museum or if the property on loan is a hazard to the health and safety of the public or the museum's staff, and if one of the following applies:

(1) The museum is unable to contact the lender or claimant at the lender's or claimant's last address of record if action is to be taken within more than three days but less than one week from the time the museum determined action was necessary;

(2) The museum is unable to contact the lender or claimant at the lender's or claimant's last address or telephone number of record prior to taking action if the action is to be taken within three days or less from the time the museum determined action was necessary; or

(3) The lender or claimant does not respond within five days from the day the lender or claimant is contacted by the museum or will not agree to the protective measures the museum recommends, and does not terminate the loan and retrieve the property.

2. If a museum applies conservation measures to or disposes of property under this section or with the agreement of the lender or claimant, unless the loan agreement provides otherwise, the museum:

(1) Shall have a lien on the property and on the proceeds of any disposition of the property for the costs incurred by the museum in applying conservation measures or disposing of the property under this section; and

(2) Shall not be liable to the lender or claimant for injury to or loss of the property if the museum:

(a) Had a reasonable belief at the time the action was taken that the action was necessary to protect the property on loan or other property in the custody of the museum or that the property on loan was a hazard to the health and safety of the public or the museum staff; and

(b) Exercised reasonable care in choosing and applying conservation measures or disposal methods.
Section 184-106 Conservation or disposal of property on

184.111. 1. A museum may give the lender or claimant notice of the museum's intent to terminate a loan of property at any time after:

(1) The date on which the property was loaned to the museum for an indefinite term, if the property has been in the custody of the museum for at least seven years and, during that time, the museum received no written contact from the lender concerning the loaned property, as evidenced in the museum's records; or

(2) The date on which a loan of property for a specified time expired, if the property has been in the custody of the museum for at least seven years.

2. A notice of intent to terminate a loan shall include a statement containing substantially the following information:

"The records of ................ (name of museum) indicate that you have property on loan to it. The museum wishes to terminate the loan. You must contact the museum in writing, establish your ownership of the property, and make arrangements to collect the property. If you fail to do so within ninety days after the date of this notice, you will be considered to have donated the property to the museum."

3. If the lender or claimant does not respond to the notice of intent to terminate provided by the museum under this section within ninety days after the date of the last notice by filing with the museum a notice of intent to preserve interest in loaned property, the museum shall acquire title to the property.

Section 184-111 Termination of loan by museum may be ma

[kevin airis]

Hi I it would of been alot easier if the rules would have been followed,and the guidlines that they agree too,that is why this lawsuit is so important to pay attention too,and learn from to protect yourself and your museum. OCT 26 2009 is the court date.Soon after will be the complaints for the accreadition
I have been studing these guidlines for over three years and I know you can not have someone come to your museum for one reason and then tell the board that you "retained an external team to audit our collections records and procedures to insure that this is an isolated incident" when the letter from the person states that they did no audit and was not there for anything about this matter.I sat down with a very nice Native American woman yesterday and showed her the lawsuit so that she could understand what this was about and how my mother was treated I am willing to sit down with anyone wanting to see for themself what this is about and how it is being handled.I hope to hear from you after all this was top story on channel 2,4,5,11,30 and front page on the St.Louis Post Dispatch It is interesting.

[kevin airis]

HI.
update on the lawsuit It is going to be jury trial on Oct.26 2009 at 9:00 in the morning we moved from 25 on the docket to fifth It seams the court thinks this suit has merit. I will be able to fulfill my mothers last words.( You hold the museum accountable for what they did to me.) this story is going to become huge when all the facts comeout and that was the stament made by the newsperson, I have given all of the court doc. to.

[Alison_Costanzo]

Hi Kevin,

I was reading through the posts and I am very sorry. Its sad to say that even though there are standard museum practices in place now not all museums are able to comply, because of a number of factors. It doesn't excuse what the museum is doing to you and your family. Being a Curator myself I personally, would have done everything to locate the missing items within the collection. It wouldn't have hurt the museum staff to do some leg work to see if they could locate the items.Who knows they could be in a box thats mislabeled I had that happen to me. I came in as a new Curator and I was left with alot of back logged paperwork for donations, loans and unprocessed artifacts. There has to be clear guide lines between what is a donation and the terms of a permanent loan like scheduling regular renewals of the agreement along with inspection of the items. I hope that your court date goes well and the missing items found.

[kevin airis]

Thank You
This is the point I am trying to show,and if you are faced with this,what you should do.I hate that they are doing this and feel very sorry that it has come to this.But if you use this to improve how you can handle this because it covers so much of the guidelines on collections and behavior.This will be a book.the appariser I hired is one of the top6 licenced through the goverment in Native American and is Native American.Using a person like this you receive an actualy history which brings up the valvue of what you have in your collections and lets you know where it came from and comparables,So if you have incomplete records you get history, real value and who owned it without spending valuble hours on research.This is just one of the things that this is about.Also a major point on why you should be happy to include anyone that knows about any of your collections and involve them.They can help in these rough times and would of been happy and excited to tell their tale.I believed their was a story about this.Transparency and being a good neighbor will keep you away from something like this.All we can ask is to be honest and you will be respected.

[kevin airis]

Hi I am giving a update the court date has been moved to Feb.22 2010. we are going to get a few more depositions of the people they involved in this. it seams they are not backing up what the museum has said in court doc. we are going to get to the truth.I went to the FBI today to show them what we found out and to see if any charges could be filed. They are going to look in to this but could not make any promises.I will let you know what happens. thank you for the support that I have recieved so far.

[kevin airis]

the court date has been moved again to May 17 2010.It als seams that the wisconsin Historical museum was rob of Native American artifacts in 2000 this case is alot like mine you can view it at pbs.org