June in Cody

We are into our busiest weeks of the year. 

This weekend (June 12-14) the CFM and the town of Cody host the Winchester Club of America annual gun show.  The show is at the Riley Arena (1400 Heart Mountain Street – Cody). 

Next weekend (June 19-21) the Winchester Arms Collectors Association annual show is also at the Riley Arena. 

The Records Office will be doing serial number searches for folks at both gun shows and offering discounts on CFM memberships.  I invite to stop by the shows if you are in the area.  

The rest of the  BBHC also has a lot going on this month with the Plains Indian Museum Powwow and the grand opening of the new Whitney Gallery of Western Art and many other activities.  The whole town bustles with events and activities so visit Cody in June!!

Donating to a Museum

As I was cleaning some correspondence from my desk, I came across a question from a gentleman asking how to donate firearms to the Cody Firearms Museum.

This is one of the more common questions we receive. For the fast answer, a possible donor would contact the Curator of the relevant museum of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center (in this case, me) and the Curator would determine if the object or objects would be appropriate to the collection.  If the Curator agrees to accept the gift, the donor would deliver the object(s) to the museum. The Curator or other staff member would produce a receipt and initiate all of the internal support processes.

If a tax deduction is desired, the donor must have an appraisal performed (preferably before the object arrives). This appraisal cannot be paid for by the museum and the museum cannot arrange the appraisal.If the donor is giving us the object to be sold to support the institution and the object is sold within a two year period, then the auction value becomes the value for tax purposes.

Once an object comes in, that is when the work starts. Besides processing the paperwork for the gift process (necessary for the signing of a deed of gift), the staff needs to accession the object into the collection. This process can take 6-8 hours and helps to create a record for the object, record the condition of the object, perform any necessary conservation or cleaning, and store the object.

If the object is to be exhibited, then there is an entirely different raft of issues and activities – but we can cover those later. In the meantime, you can see what happens on the large scale by looking at the re-installation of our Whitney Gallery of Western Art.

Cheers,

Dave K.