The Jackson Hole Historical Society and Museum relies on the generosity of donors to expand and refine its collection in line with its mission to collect, preserve and explore the cultural and related natural history of Jackson Hole through education, research, public programming and collaboration.
All items offered for the JHHSM’s collection are carefully reviewed by staff and the Collections Committee before they are approved and accepted. Items brought to the museum without contacting staff first may not be accepted.
Collection Priorities/Gaps in current Collections
- Women’s roles
- Representative of Jackson Hole’s diversity, inclusive of all racial and cultural groups
- Transportation
- Recreational sports in JH: rafting, mountaineering, climbing, snowboarding, etc.
- Modern History (1960’s-present)
- Teton Village History
The quality and relevance of the collections are vital to the mission of JHHSM. Therefore, acquisitions should meet the following criteria:
- Shall be relevant to the mission, purpose and priorities of JHHSM
- JHHSM must be able to store, protect, preserve and care for acquisitions in keeping with museum best practices.
- Acquisitions must be accompanied by a valid legal title, obtained free and clear, to be transferred without restrictions to JHHSM. All donations are considered outright, irrevocable and unconditional gifts to JHHSM to be used at the museums discretion
- Acquisitions should not duplicate examples of items already present in the permanent collection of equal or superior quality.
- JHHSM will not knowingly acquire any item derived from illicit trade and shall subscribe to UNESCO guidelines regarding illicit import, export or transfer or ownership of cultural property.
Frequently Asked Questions
When will my donation be on exhibit?
While we do value all collection materials, we cannot guarantee that all objects will be on display. We try to rotate out objects with new exhibits regularly to showcase our entire collection, which is best practices collection management but again we cannot guarantee exhibition of all objects. Only a fraction of the collection can be on display at a time while the rest of the collection is carefully preserved in our collections facility.
If I donate material to JHHSM, will it be returned to me at my request?
JHHSM cannot return accessioned collection materials to the donor. Once the Collections Committee accepts your donation, you will be asked to sign a Deed of Gift, which legally transfers ownership of the materials to the museum.
Can objects be removed from the collection?
JHHSM may, after careful review and with approval from the Collections Committee, remove objects from the collection through a process called deaccessioning. JHHSM may consider deaccession for the following reasons:
- it is no longer possible to maintain an artifact in the proper condition;
- the condition is deteriorated or has been damaged beyond the ability of JHHSM to preserve’ change in an artifacts relationships to the collection and museum’s mission; quality, size, medium, or physical condition that affects storage or exhibition;
- restitution or repatriation; and
- duplication in the collections.
To donate to the JHHSM’s collection, please email our research and collections team.