At the MFA we use codes. We have Anonymous Lenders and Anonymous Donors.
 
The Registrar assigns Anonymous Lender numbers that are known only to her and the curatorial department responsible for the objects lent by that person. The Recorder assigns Anonymous Donor numbers that are known only to her and the curatorial department responsible for the objects donated by that person.
 
The Constituent records look like: Anonymous Donor 1 or Anonymous Lender AAOA 1 (AAOA is the curatorial department abbreviation). This information is not displayed on the object or loan record.
 
We do it this way because most of our 380+ users have view rights in the Constituent Module and could therefore search for and see the names of Anonymous Donors and Lenders. This system has been in place for a few years now and works well for us.
 
Linda Pulliam
Manager of Collections Information
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
-----Original Message-----
From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Ella Rothgangel
Sent: Friday, August 06, 2004 11:41 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: anonymous donors


We are looking at the issue of whether to add the names of anonymous donors into acquisition constituents.  On one hand, we want to make the donors' names as anonymous as we can and we have some trepidation about the anonymity of acquisition constituents.  On the other hand, we don't want to lose the ability to search for all objects given by a particular donor if all or some of that person's donation was anonymous.
 
Do others include anonymous donor names in acquisition constituents?
 
Thank you,
 
Ella
 
 
 
Ella Rothgangel
Collections Database Administrator
Saint Louis Art Museum
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314.655.5408