The Poplar Grove Vintage Wings & Wheels Museum was established to preserve history and educate the public about the significant contributions made to our country by winged and wheeled vehicles. The artifacts the Poplar Grove Vintage Wings & Wheels Museum accepts must be related to Early Transportation History.  To achieve these goals, the scope of our collection shall be limited to items that enhance our mission statement and that Poplar Grove Wings & Wheels can ethically and physically provide care for. Specifically, we are looking for:

• Pre-1957 artifacts.
• Historically significant materials that fit within the scope of the museum’s collection and further its mission.
• Actual historic items, not merely a copy or reproduction of an historic item.
• Items in good condition and ones that the museum can adequately care for.

*Items that are in very poor condition, are broken beyond repair, moldy, have been/are infested with insects or other vermin will not be accepted. *

This includes but is not restricted to artifacts related to:

• Aviation, private and military
• Vehicles such as: automobiles, bicycles, tractors, wagons, carriages, and more.
• Related photographs and print media.
• Related ephemera.

The Poplar Grove Vintage Wings & Wheels Museum gladly accepts item donations for our collection that augment our current collection. Items in the museum’s collections are carefully stored and preserved and are used to enhance museum exhibits and educational programs. Prospective donors should understand that we may have to refuse certain gifts or loans for any of the following reasons.

• Duplication of currently owned material
• Lack of space
• Lack of technical equipment or financial resources to properly care for or process material offered
• Inappropriateness to the collection, such as outside of our scope and mission purpose

* Any Materials’ that fall outside these proscribe limits will be reviewed by the Collections Committee on a case-by-case basis. *

Acquisitions to The Poplar Grove Vintage Wings & Wheels Museum collections by purchase, loan, gift, bequest or other means shall accord with the following rules:

• The owner must have clear title and must sign a deed of gift transferring title to the Poplar Grove Vintage Wings & Wheels Museum. In the case of a bequest, the donor must also have had clear title.
• A transfer of ownership file containing gift agreements and other proofs of the Poplar Grove Vintage Wings & Wheels Museum’s legal ownership of acquisitions shall be maintained.
• Vintage Wings & Wheels Museum does not do monetary appraisals. (See U.S. Internal Revenue Service regulations.)
• The Poplar Grove Vintage Wings & Wheels Museum must be capable of housing and caring for the proposed acquisition according to accepted professional standards.
• Proposed acquisitions shall be free of donor-imposed restrictions unless such restrictions are agreed to by the Museum staff.
• The Museum staff reserves the right to refuse gifts or portions of donations, and the right to dispose of or return to the donor, items inappropriate to the collection.
• Acquisitions approved by the Museum staff shall be promptly accessioned upon receipt and processed.
• Donors and prospective donors, whenever deemed appropriate, should be asked by the Museum staff whether they would be willing to provide funds for the full or partial cost of accessioning and subsequent maintenance of materials gifted to the Museum. Willingness or unwillingness to provide such funds should usually not be a determining factor to accept or reject a gift for accessioning.

Two types of donations:

v  A gift is a donation that becomes The Poplar Grove Vintage Wings & Wheels Museum full property, including title, property rights, trademarks and copyrights.  The Poplar Grove Vintage Wings & Wheels Museum prefers to be the sole owner of any material accepted. This allows The Poplar Grove Vintage Wings & Wheels Museum to retain absolute authority to use the item(s) in any way we deem appropriate. Thus, restriction on the handling or use of donations which impose an unsupportable technical, financial or professional burden on The Poplar Grove Vintage Wings & Wheels Museum cannot be accepted. Reasonable restrictions on a gift may be accepted by the Museum staff. The Vintage Wings & Wheels Museum reserves the right to dispose of material in deteriorating condition or under changed museum circumstances in compliance with accepted museum procedure and professional responsibility.

v  A loan is a donation that continues to belong legally to the lender but is temporarily housed at The Poplar Grove Vintage Wings & Wheels Museum and may be used for exhibits and displays at the Museum’s discretion. The lender has the right to take the loaned item back from the Museum with sufficient notice. At the end of the loan period, if the lender decides not to renew, the loan period will end, and the item must be removed.  If the Museum decides not to renew the loan period, it will contact the owner and ask that the item be removed, and the loan period will end.   At any time, the owner may gift the item to the Museum and will fill out a Deed of Gift.  All items on loan will be reviewed by November 1, each year.  The Museum requires valuable property to be insured by the owner for the life of the loan.

  *These policies do not include the Library Collection.

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