There are many avenues an object may take to enter a museum collection. Over the course of my blog, I’ve talked about gifts, purchases, and objects that have been found in inventory. One method I haven’t discussed yet is abandoned property.
In 1983, local resident Harry Trott loaned several antiquities to what was then the Emory University Museum of Art and Archaeology. As is standard procedure when an object is placed on loan, paperwork in the form of a loan agreement was drawn up by the museum and signed by both the lender and the museum. Part of the purpose of a loan agreement is to establish how long the object(s) will remain on loan to the museum. At the conclusion of that time frame, both parties may agree to renew the loan, or the loan may be concluded and the objects returned to the lender.
For decades, the loan agreement was regularly re-signed by Harry Trott and the museum. However, when the Carlos sent renewal paperwork in 2012, there was no reply from Trott. We tried again in 2014, 2017, and 2021. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. You would be surprised how many people move and don’t leave a forwarding address, simply don’t reply, or pass away without the museum knowing. So, what do museums do when they are in possession of someone else’s art, and they are unable to get a hold of the lender?
Fortunately, state law has museums covered. In the state of Georgia, museums and archive repositories are covered by GA Code § 10-1-529.4 (2024). According to Georgia state law, property deposited at a museum is considered abandoned when the loan period has expired and there has been no written communication from the lender in over seven years. By 2025, the Carlos had not had any communication from Trott for fifteen years, so we began an abandoned property claim.
We have two addresses on file for Trott, so letters were sent to both addresses using certified mail. In accordance with state law, the letters stated that the loan for the objects described is terminated and the property is considered abandoned. The letters concluded by stating that the Carlos Museum will become the owner of the property if Trott fails to submit a written claim within sixty days of receipt of the letter. The letters were sent via certified mail on October 15, 2025. One was sent back to the museum on November 3, 2025, and was marked as undeliverable because the address was vacant. The second letter was sent back on November 7, 2025, because no one at the address knew Trott or could provide a forwarding address.
After both letters were returned, the next legal step was to post a notification of the abandoned property in the “official country organ” of the county in which the museum is located, as well as the county in which the last known address of the lender is located. In this case, the Carlos and the previous addresses of Trott are in DeKalb County. The notification was posted in The Champion Newspaper, the “official county organ” of DeKalb County. Sixty days after the publication of the notification, with no communication from Trott or anyone else with a valid claim to the objects, the Carlos Museum became the legal owner of the former property of Harry Trott. While not the preferred method of acquisition, the Carlos is pleased to become the current stewards for these objects.
*Note: I am not a lawyer, nor do I have legal training. The Michael C. Carlos Museum works directly with Emory University General Counsel on all legal matters. Some legal details have been left out of this narrative for the sake of brevity.
