Donating or Selling Family Heirlooms to a Museum

Are you feeling overwhelmed by your family heirloom collection?  We have been having this discussion at our house.  What is the best long term archival solution for family heirlooms?  Have you considered donating or selling your family heirlooms to a museum?

Mae Moss Coffman was known as "Coffee" to her co-workers.

Mae Moss as a young woman.  Oral history was that she had a photographer boyfriend.

The first step is to identify a museum that might want your family heirlooms.  Make a list of museums that you have visited or that are on your list to visit.  I tend to visit museums that might have historical collections related to my family history.  For example, one of my favorite museums is the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA).  I have tons of family history centered in Oakland, California.  My grandmother and her sister grew up in Oakland and were surrounded by many family members who lived in Northern California for decades.  Perhaps the OMCA might be interested in my family heirloom collection.

Once you have identified your preferred museum for donation or sale, visit their website and read their donation and sale policy.  For example, here is the policy for donation from the OMCA website:

"Donating or Selling Objects to the Oakland Museum of California
            Thank you for your interest in donating or selling items to Oakland Museum of California’s permanent collection. Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) collects art, history, and natural sciences objects related to California.

In order to consider your donation of artwork(s), artifact(s) or specimen(s), OMCA requires interested parties to submit a written proposal to be considered by our curatorial and collections staff.

Please note, proposals for gifts that would qualify for the 2015 year-end tax deduction needed to be received by December 1, 2015. 

What to include in a proposal:

In order for Museum staff to consider the object, please submit the following information in your proposal:

Whether you are offering a donation or sale. If the item is for sale, provide price and any conditions or terms.

Connections to California are essential, so please be sure to state them.

Information about the object such as: a general description; the name of artist or manufacturer (if known); dimensions; date made; history of how it was made or used; and, any other details you can provide.

Good pictures. Visual documentation is also important to the process, in particular to help assess condition.

How you came to own the object. Please also include any formal documentation of ownership.

Once we receive your complete proposal, OMCA staff will carefully consider your offer, and make a decision based on criteria such as its relevance to the OMCA mission, how well it fits with plans for the OMCA Collection, whether it is in good condition, and whether we can adequately care for it in the future. Not all donation or sale offers can be accepted.

We respond to proposals on a first come, first served basis. However, depending on the unique considerations of each proposal, it can take anywhere from one month to six months for us to respond.

Please do not bring objects to the Museum. We will be in touch if we need to view the item(s) in person. Note that we cannot offer appraisals nor can we recommend appraisers. For these questions, please visit the American Society of Appraisers website or call ASA at 800-272-8258.

Mail proposals to:

Oakland Museum of California Attention:OMCA Lab, Acquisitions Committee1000 Oak Street, Oakland, CA 94607

Or submit via email to: ehansen@museumca.org

Thank you for your interest in supporting the Oakland Museum of California."

This seems like a great model for a donation to any museum.  My proposal would center on preserving the collection of a working class family based in Oakland, California.  The matriarch, Mae Moss Coffman Forbes was raised in an orphanage in Sacramento and came to Oakland from San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake.  She was married in Oakland in 1907 to Ernest Coffman.  Ernest lived in Oakland near his parents, brother and sister and their families.

Ernest Coffman, Elaine and Vivian's father written by Vivian.

Ernest and Mae moved to New York City before 1910 so Ernest could work as a branch manager for the Gas Consumers Association.  Mae had her first daughter, Elaine in Manhattan in 1910 and Vivian was born in New Jersey in 1916.  The family was back in Oakland by 1920 residing with Ernest's sister, Viola Coffman Hughes.  Mae worked as a cashier for Owl Drug.  Ernest went into the automobile tire business with his brother, Otis Coffman.

David and Viola Hughes, Oakland, California

Coffman Bros. Tires Advertisement, Oakland Tribune, October 17, 1920

Ernest and Mae were divorced by 1925.  Ernest kept Vivian in the care of his sister, Viola Hughes and Mae kept my grandmother, Elaine.  Mae remarried to Ernest "Doc" Forbes, the pharmacist at the Owl Drug Store where she worked in 1936.  Doc was born in Australia in 1884 and immigrated to California in 1904.  I have dozens of objects related to all of these family members that I might like to donate.

To make a donation of family heirlooms, the next step is to make an inventory of your family heirlooms and write a proposal.  So excuse me, I need to get busy!

Ernest "Doc" Forbes, Pharmacist, Owl Drugs, Oakland, California

Doc Forbes at Owl Drug, Oakland, California

We used to have Doc's mortar & pestle at our house when I was a kid.  I wonder what happened to that one?

Doc Forbes at Owl Drug
Doc was a Mason in the Sequoia Lodge joining in 1908.  Governor and Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren was the Worshipful Master in 1928 and the Grand Master in 1936.  I have Doc's copy of the Fifty Year History of Sequoia Lodge, No. 349 F. & A. M. Oakland, California published in 1952.  I also have a pocket watch, pen and dozens of photographs of him and Grandma Mae.  Are they worthy of preservation in a museum?  I plan to photograph, inventory and write up the stories that go with these objects.

Is My Brickwall About to Tumble Down?

The latest discovery in my own family history is an obituary which ties my great grandmother, Mae Blanche Moss to a man named John Lauenstein in 1906.  The obituary states that "May" Moss is the step-daughter of Mr. Lauenstein.  My maternal great grandmother, Mae Moss, was the first wife of my maternal great grandfather, Ernest Coffman, and the mother of Elaine and Vivian Coffman.  Later she married Ernest "Doc" Forbes, a pharmacist for Owl Drug.

Mae Moss is my genealogical mystery woman.  She was placed in the Sacramento Protestant Orphan Asylum by her mother in 1892.  This institution was known to us in Sacramento as the Sacramento Children's Home.

!BIRTH: 1882 Sacramento Children's Home Register; copied by Jill Mayne, Oct 1989 May Moss born Feb 19 1882, American; came to California June 1890, Sacramento; Admitted: 6 Dec 1892 by Mrs. J. Moss; Discharged: 4 Aug 1897 to Mrs. Moss, Father: Nashville, Tenn.; Mother: Richmond, VA; Married: Galveston, Tex.; Parents Death: Waco, Texas; Parents Habits: Intemperate.  Mrs. Moss took May without permission from the Board.

I have never been able to find any records which substantiate any of the vital information provided by Mae's mother to the orphanage.  Between the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the 1900 Galveston storm, there has been considerable record loss which has affected my search.

Mae stated on her 1936 application for a Social Security account number:  Mae B. Moss Coffman; 885 Aileen Street, Oakland Calif.; Employer: Owl Drug Co. at 14 & Washington Sts., Oakland, Cal.;  age at last birthday: 51; DOB: 19 Feb 1885; POB: Brooklyn, New York; Father: John Moss; Mother: Annie Lanstein; signed Nov. 30, 1936 by Mae B. Coffman.

Lanstein vs. Lauenstein.  This raises the possibility that Lanstein was not the maiden name of Mae's mother, rather it was a married name.  Curiously, however, no wife is mentioned in Mr. Lauenstein's obituary:

The San Francisco Call, Saturday, January 13, 1906, page 13.

LAUENSTEIN---In this city, January 12, 1906, at his residence, 8 Miles court, John Lauenstein, stepfather of May Moss, a native of Hamburg, Germany, aged 46 years, 9 months and 4 days.

  Friends and acquaintances are respectfully invited to attend the funeral services Sunday, January 14, at 12 o'clock m., at his late residence, 8 Miles court, off California street near Powell. Interment Mount Olivet Cemetery.

  Funeral will take place under the auspices of San Francisco Aerie No. 5, F.O.E., Sunday, January 14, at 1 o'clock p.m., from Eagles Hall, 731 Market street. By order of 

  D. J. CREAMER, Acting President. 

 GUS POHLMAN, Secretary.

Publication Title: San Francisco Call; 13 January 1906, page 13; California Digital Newspaper Collection [cdnc.ucr.edu]

 

California Digital Newspaper Collection
www.cdnc.ucr.edu

The address "off California Street" does match with the stories that both Elaine and Vivian told me:

!BIOGRAPHY: 1906 Elaine Coffman Kelly, Interview by Nick Cimino 4 Nov 1989

     Mae and her mother lived in San Francisco on the street below the Fairmont Hotel.  Going up California Street it was the first street before you hit the top.  The rooming house was down there in the middle of the block.  Mae worked on California and Montgomery at a fancy fruit and vegetable market for Mr. Gedding and she apparently knew the family.  She was a cashier.  When the fire broke out after the earthquake in 1906 some of the people went to the Golden Gate Park.  Elaine remembers her mom telling about her father pulling this trunk down California Street one block below the Fairmont all the way down to the ferry boat which went over to Oakland.  They assume that Ernest took Mae and her mother to Aunt Viola Coffman Hughes house at 742 46th Street.

!BIOGRAPHY: 1906 Vivian McGrath, Interview by N. Cimino 10 Nov 1989;  Vivian told me many times that her mother and grandmother were in San Francisco during the 1906 earthquake.  Mae Moss was working as a cashier or a bookkeeper for Mr. Gedding who had a wholesale produce company at the foot of California Street.  Mae and her mother were living in a flat on a little narrow street right behind the Fairmont Hotel. They put their possessions in a big trunk, got the trunk down the stairs of the place and pushed it out to California Street but they could not get the trunk up the hill because it was too steep.  Mae smiled at two strong men coming up the hill and they pulled the trunk up the hill for her.  She and her mother then pushed it down the hill.  They got out to Golden Gate Park somehow. Everyone was camping in the park.  Ernest Coffman found them in the park and brought Mae and her mother back to Oakland to the house of Viola Coffman Hughes at 742 46th St.

          

To corroborate the above stories, I checked the 1920 Census for names that sound like "Gedding".  I found a Mr. Charles L. Goetting, age 52, born in Germany, immigrated 1868 and naturalized 1878.   He was a lodger at 568 California Street and his occupation was produce salesman.   He is also listed with his family at 675 Second Avenue. The story about Mr. Goetting checks out pretty well.  I have found advertisements for his produce business. 

Now I have John Lauenstein as the stepfather of Great Grandma Mae and residing near California Street. His gravestone in Mt. Olivet in Colma says that his wife was Virginia.  That threw me a curve ball.  I cannot find him or a wife named Virginia in the 1900 census of San Francisco.  What happened to Mae's mother, Annie?  Is Virginia the same as Annie?  Why doesn't the obituary mention Virginia?

FindaGrave Memorial #135257484
www.findagrave.com

Grandma Mae has been one step forward and two steps back at every turn in the research journey.  But at least I have a few more names to trace down and hopefully, it will lead to actual records of Mae and her parents.

YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS ARE ENCOURAGED!

Here is the complete chronology for John Lauenstein, 1859-1906:

1859- BIRTH • Hamburg, Germany

Per obituary; died January 12, 1906, aged 46 years, 9 months and 4 days. This yields a birthdate of 8 Apr 1859.

1890- NATURALIZATION • San Francisco, California, USA

Naturalized: SF Sup.[Superior Court?], July 31, 1890 per 1890 & 1896 Voter 

Registers  see below.

1890- VOTER REGISTER • San Francisco, California, USA

Name: Lauenstein John; age 30; Nativity: Germany; Occupation: Carpenter; Local Residence: 621 California, Floor 2, Room B; Naturalized: SF Sup. [Superior Court?], July 31, 1890; Date of Registration: Oct., 7, 1890; Publication Title: Voter Register, 10th Precinct, 31st Assembly District, San Francisco County, 1890 [Ancestry.com]

1896- VOTER REGISTER • San Francisco, California, USA

Name: Lauenstein John; age 36; Height: 5', 5"; Complexion: Light; Color of Eyes: Hazel; Color of Hair: Brown; Occupation: Carpenter; Nativity: Germany; Local Residence: 428 Broadway, Floor 3, Room 9; Naturalized: SF Sup. [Superior Court?], July 31, 1890; Date of Registration: June 3, 1896; Publication Title: Voter Register, 7th Precinct, 45th Assembly District, San Francisco County, 1896 [Ancestry.com]

1899 RESIDENCE • San Francisco, California, USA

Lauenstein John, porter [resides with?] James W. Boyce; Publication Title: San Francisco, California, City Directory, 1899 [Ancestry.com]

1900 CENSUS • Presumably San Francisco but have not yet found the census record for John Lauenstein despite a variety of clever search techniques.  If I could find this record it might reveal the mysterious Mrs. Virginia Lauenstein.

1903 RESIDENCE • San Francisco, California, USA

Lauenstein John, bartender, r. 423 Sutter; Publication Title: San Francisco, California, City Directory, 1903 [Ancestry.com]

Before 1906 he was married to a woman named Virginia [maiden name unknown] per the gravestone. Unfortunately, there do not appear to be marriage records for San Francisco County available prior to the 1906 earthquake.  The Western States Marriage Index  at Ancestry.com shows a divorce occurring in Boise, Idaho between a John Lowenstein and wife, Annie.  The index refers to a marriage occurring in San Francisco on 10 Jun 1890.  The date of the divorce is not given.  It seems odd that Annie or John would have gone all the way to Boise to get a divorce.  The original divorce record in Ada County, Idaho may reveal more but the transcript in the Western States Marriage Index has several blanks in the form.

1906- OBITUARY • San Francisco, California, USA

The San Francisco Call, Saturday, January 13, 1906, page 13.

See transcript above in italics.

!BURIAL: January 14, 1906 per obituary.

Name: John Lauenstein

Cemetery: Olivet Memorial Park

Burial or Cremation Place: Colma, San Mateo County, California, USA

Website: http://www.findagrave.com/  

Find A Grave Memorial# 135257484

Marker Transcription: JOHN, BELOVED HUSBAND OF VIRGINIA LAUENSTEIN, AGE 46 YEARS, S.F. AERIE, No. 5 F.O.E.

!PROBATE: A reasonably exhaustive search has not revealed a probate record for John Lauenstein.

All Roads in Our Family History Pass through Reno

The Washoe County Courthouse in Reno, Nevada holds several records of our family history.  I worked for Washoe County in the early 1980s and was in this building many times.  The Washoe County Courthouse helped to make Reno the "Divorce Capital of the World". This was also the place where many marriage licences were obtained by our family members.  Source: Online Encyclopedia of Nevada (Click here for more information.)

Is it coincidence or serendipity that so many events in our family history occurred in Reno, Nevada? Our little family of four resided in Reno, Nevada from 1982 to 1997.  My wife, our eldest daughter and her husband all graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno.  I completed all of the course work for the Masters program in Historic Preservation at UNR.  We have many good memories and good friends from Reno and we have continued to visit there over the years.

When I started my family history research in Reno in 1989, I began to realize that several major events in our family history occurred in Reno.  For example, I was surprised to learn that my “Gram” Elaine Coffman was married to my Grandpa George Kelly at the First United Methodist Church in Reno on the 24^th of October 1937.  This was the era when Reno was known as the “Divorce Capital of the World.”   The short six week residency requirement induced many divorce seekers to temporarily relocate to the “Biggest Little City.”  They resided in guest houses and dude ranches while their divorce was processed through the Washoe County courts. 

And so it was with Gram Elaine.  Her nine year marriage to Grandpa True Mayne was on the rocks.  Elaine had been lodging across the street from the courthouse since September 1, 1937.  The decree of divorce was granted in the Washoe County Courthouse on the 16^th of October 1937, exactly six weeks after Elaine arrived in Reno.  Elaine and George were married eight days later. The marriage to Grandpa George lasted over fifty years until his death.  They shared a lifelong love with each other and with Lake Tahoe.  George named his Lake Tahoe cabin cruiser, the Elaine B.

I was surprised recently to learn that my paternal grandfather, Richard Cimino was married to his second wife, Macy Lu Kimes at the same church in Reno as my maternal grandparents.  Grandpa Dick and Grandma Macy became strong adherents of the Methodist Church.  My aunt Betty Ann remembered vividly that her father and step-mother were married in the summer of 1955 because it was a year before she was married to Elson Hancock also in Reno, Nevada on 17 August 1956.  Betty Ann could not recall the exact date so another piece was needed to solve our “Ancestor Puzzle.”

My search for the 1955 marriage record of Grandpa Dick and Grandma Macy seemed to be frustrated at every turn.  Ancestry.com has a database of Nevada marriages but it did not include marriages for 1955 in Reno.  I went to the Washoe County Clerk website which claimed to have all of the marriages recorded in the county in an online database.  My search for “Cimino” in 1955 showed “0” results.  I searched for the contact information and found that the County Clerk was open until midnight on a Saturday.  It appears that they still have a lively marriage trade in Reno!  I called the number and I marveled that a live person answered and explained that their database was down for the weekend. The friendly clerk stated she would be happy to look up the date of the marriage on the microfilm and call me back.  Finally persistence seemed to have paid off.

I waited patiently until past midnight Central time for the return phone call.  The call never came.  But then I checked my phone before heading to bed and realized that the “do not disturb” function was programmed for 10 pm.  I had a missed call from the 775 area code.  Fortunately the clerk had left a message.  The date that Grandpa Dick and Grandma Macy were married was the 2^nd of July 1955.  So if you are looking for a marriage record that you cannot seem to find, you might consider researching the Nevada marriage records.

For more information on the Reno divorce industry, see the following source: Mella Rothwell Harmon. Divorce and Economic Opportunity in Reno, Nevada during the Great Depression. Reno: MS thesis. University of Nevada, 1998. - See more at: http://www.onlinenevada.org/articles/reno-twentieth-century-divorce-capital#sthash.4pub4Oc9.dpuf  Mella was a classmate of mine at UNR and she is now a faculty member at our alma mater.