John.
The CRRM does have a brief overview of donations, memberships,contributions etc. on our website. One of the biggest complaints we receive is "I E-mailed you and never received a reply". We get hundreds of E-mails a week. These E-mails cover everything from what are your hours of operation, to My Great Gandfather fell off a railroad bridge somewhere out west and do you know which one? Sometimes our server screws up. We cannot answer every E-mail we get. Myself and the rest of the staff spend hours on the computer checking E-mails.Granted it is an easy/inexpensive way to communicate, but it seems to me if you have a collection, no matter how insignificant, it is important to you. If you are considering donating it to a Museum it should warrant a phone call. (Most museums have a toll free number, CRRM's is 800-365-6263)One of our archivists, historians, curators, or someone knowledgeable will discuss it with you. If they are not availible when you call, you will have your call returned. We talked to several people last week inquiring about donations. One had a chunk of wood from the RGS Ames trestle another had a Jeffrey spike. Both thought they had priceless artifacts. These items were important and had value according to them. Then a lady called us and asked us if we would accept railroad books. We said sure, she wasn't sure of their worth, but would drop them by. Turned out they were Rails Around Gold Hill, a Colorado Midland, and many other out of print collectible books. All it takes is a phone call. We'll discuss options: Do you want it displayed, should it go in our auction, what would you want done with your collection? The bottom line is, we are grateful for any donations we receive, and the CRRM and other museums could not survive without your donations. Call us, please. By the way, we also accept cash and take all major credit cards.
Thanks for "listening".
Bill Gould
Museum Curator
P.S. I'm going try to stay off this discussion web site.
