Abandoned deposits
This section of the toolkit offers guidance on managing abandoned deposits.
Abandoned deposits are where the depositor or owner cannot be traced or is unknown. There may not have been any contact with depositors for several years. Some historic deposits or donations may have very little or no paperwork. This presents challenges for archive services in terms of collections management, particularly disposal.
- The legislation in the United Kingdom about abandoned property is complex and fragmented.
- Consider undertaking an assessment to understand the extent of the problem.
- Develop a policy and procedures for dealing with abandoned deposits and ownership issues, including identifying and tracing owners.
- Attempting to trace depositors or owners is likely to require significant staff resources, depending on the number of collections involved. To start with, consider prioritising collections based on their size, significance, use or type of depositor.
- Where making contact with a depositor or owner has been unsuccessful, keep a record as this can help inform collection management decisions. For example, disposal or appraisal of such collections is generally not recommended.
The legislation in the United Kingdom about abandoned property is complex and fragmented.
Under current Scottish law, abandoned property can be owned by the Crown, but there must be an intention to abandon it (see below). Therefore it appears unlikely to apply to abandoned deposits. In 2012, the Scottish Law Commission drafted the Prescription and Title to Moveable Property (Scotland) Bill and the Scottish Government consulted on it in 2015. The draft Bill would allow a person to gain ownership of moveable property which had been in their possession for 20 years dependent on certain conditions being met or, in the case of deposits/loans, where the owner had not been in contact for 50 years. This was aimed primarily at “museums and other cultural institutions” to let them deal with property which they hold for an owner who cannot be traced. However, the Bill has not been introduced to the Scottish Parliament and it is not clear whether “cultural institutions” would include archive services.
For England, Wales and Northern Ireland, there is very little sector guidance. However, Kevin Ward (1995), writing about abandoned title deeds in England, argues that “Recent authority has shown that very strong evidence (‘a clear and unequivocal intention to abandon’) will be required to show that abandonment has operated.” In addition, Professor Janet Ulph has researched the legal implications of ownership and abandoned loans for museums (see Links and resources section), much of which is relevant for archive services. The Law Commission has announced a project focusing on ownership issues with museum collections, but it has not started yet and does not include archives.
In the United Kingdom, it is the responsibility of directors and/or shareholders to deal with the property and assets of a company before it is dissolved. However, if this is not done, Section 1012 of the Companies Act 2006 states that any company’s ‘property and rights’ are deemed to be ‘bona vacantia’ (ownerless goods) and pass to the Crown. See Bona vacantia dissolved companies for more information. This only applies to dissolved companies – an insolvent company (in administration or liquidation) might be on its way to being dissolved, but still exists. The Business Archives Council for Scotland and Managing Business Archives website provide advice on working with Insolvency Practitioners.
“ 5.2 Where the owner of corporeal moveable property abandons it, the property falls to the Crown under the rule quod nullius est fit domini regis. As a result of the discarding of litter, every day Her Majesty becomes the owner of countless items such as cigarette ends, crisp packets and chewing gum. Furthermore, she acquires larger things such as sagging sofas and defunct cars which have been abandoned by their owners.
5.3 If someone is in direct possession of property, that is to say actually holding it, abandonment requires both a physical and mental act. The corporeal moveable must be left behind with the intention to abandon it. This contrasts with lost property where the owner has forgotten to take something, for example an umbrella left in a restaurant or on the bus. Here there is no intention to abandon. Where the owner is not in direct possession, a physical act is not required.”
Scottish Law Commission (2012). Report 228: Report on Prescription and Title to Moveable Property. Reproduced using an Open Government Licence.
The Archives and Records Association Code of Ethics (2024) does not specifically mention abandoned deposits and is rather light on the ethics of ownership. Nevertheless, archive services should carefully consider the ethical implications of dealing with abandoned deposits. They must balance their responsibility to preserve and provide access to the collection with the need to avoid assuming ownership inappropriately or taking actions that are exploitative.
“There are many stakeholders in managing records and archives. Members should have regard to the legitimate, but sometimes conflicting, rights and interests of these stakeholders, including employers, owners, community members, data subjects and users, past, present and future in line with current legislation.”
Archives and Records Association (United Kingdom and Ireland) (2024). ARA Code of Ethics (updated March 2024)
An archive service should consider undertaking an assessment to understand the extent of the problem. Reviewing accession registers, deposit agreements and documentation can help identify deposits or donations lacking proper agreements or where the depositor has not been in contact for a certain period (e.g. more than ten years). Also, assess whether the collection still fits your Collections Development Policy.
This is likely to be a resource-intensive exercise, so consider prioritising certain collections. For example, those that are large, highly significant, heavily used or have high financial value. Or select a representative sample of different types of collections. In some circumstances, such as moving to new premises, archive services might undertake an assessment of collections it is considering for disposal or de-accessioning. We have created a simple spreadsheet template for recording this information. This information could also be recorded in your collections management system and any depositor’s database.
“Special Collections has been part of the University of Bristol Library for around 100 years. Many of their collections were deposited before the advent of professional standards for accessioning and providing appropriate access to archives. This has left them with a sizeable legacy of collections that lack donation or loan agreements, some of which carry additional non-statutory access restrictions. This grant will enable them to take a systematic look at their holdings and retrospectively implement accession paperwork wherever possible. With permissions in place, they can also remove unnecessary barriers to access. This will enable them to improve their collections information and deliver on their collections development, user satisfaction and audience engagement aspirations. They will also share their methodology widely within the sector, to help other repositories facing similar issues.”
The National Archives (2025). Award of Resilience Grant to the University of Bristol Special Collections. Reproduced using an Open Government Licence.
Developing a clear policy for dealing with abandoned deposits and ownership issues, including procedures for identifying and tracing owners, will help ensure that ethical standards are upheld. This could be a standalone policy or part of a Collections Information Policy.
For example, the policy should outline:
- Definitions: For abandoned deposits or donations/deposits with no paperwork.
- Assessment: How the archive service has assessed (or will assess) the scale of the issue.
- Tracing depositors: How the archive service will identify, trace and contact depositors or owners.
- Renewing agreements: How the archive service will renew deposit agreements or whether they will seek a donation instead.
- Untraceable ownership: How the archive service will manage collections when a depositor or owner cannot be traced, including disposal procedures.
- Governance: How the results of the above and any risks will be reported to decision makers in the archive service or its parent organisation.
“In particular, the archive service should examine its policies regarding the information held on the ownership and legal status of its collections, especially legacy issues, which arose before current policies and procedures. The purpose is to ensure the Service is aware of and where possible managing risks around the ownership of collections. Accreditation recognises that there can be issues over depositor terms, particularly where there is a legacy of past practice that would not be acceptable by modern standards.”
Archive Service Accreditation (2025). Guidance for developing and completing an application. Reproduced using an Open Government Licence.
Attempting to trace depositors or owners is likely to require significant staff resources, depending on the number of collections involved. To start with, consider prioritising collections based on their size, significance, use or type of depositor (organisations can be easier to trace than individuals).
The process will involve:
- Documentation:Check documentation for agreements, contact information and any clues. This might include accession registers, collection files, conservation records, meeting minutes, annual reports and collecting policies. If possible, you could check with former staff or anyone who might remember the deposit. Where the depositor is a large organisation, check with other archivists or archive networks whether they have contact details.
- Contact:Where contact details are found, try to make contact with the depositor. For example, write, email or phone.
- Research:Where no contact details are available or no reply is received, undertake online searches of records or social media profiles to trace the individual or company. More information on undertaking this can be found in Tracing depositors’ steps.
- Record keeping:Keep good records of your attempts to make contact and research, even if they were unsuccessful.
- Escalation:Inform decision makers and stakeholders in the archive service or its parent organisation of the outcomes and any key risks.
Where contact is made with an individual or organisation, ask them to complete a donation or deposit agreement form. In some cases, where the collection no longer fits your Collections Development Policy, you may offer to return it to the owner or transfer it to a more appropriate archive service. In rare cases, the depositor or owner may decide to withdraw the collection or ask you to purchase it – we explore this in the Withdrawals section in more detail.
“Tracking the status of a business can be more straightforward with a short internet search – either a business still exists, no longer exists or they have become part of another company. If they no longer exist and cannot be traced to another organisation, they move to the Untraceable Lender Category. If they do still exist in some form, finding someone in the organisation to engage with and take responsibility for decision making can be difficult. Loans may be seen as financial assets by businesses and a business may not want to donate to the Museum something that is seen as potentially valuable. Indeed, a business may prefer to retain ownership while the Museum continues to care for the object on loan.”
Lyn Stevens (2022). Living with a legacy – Managing the challenges of historic loans and lending at National Museums Scotland, Journal of the Australasian Registrars Committee 81 (pp. 28-31).
Where making contact with a depositor or owner has been unsuccessful, you should record this and may wish to categorise the deposit. For example, categories could include (these are partially based on categories developed by the National Museum of Scotland for long-term loans):
- Unknown: No depositor details are available or ownership is unknown.
- Untraceable: Attempts to contact and trace the individual or organisation have been unsuccessful.
- Non-responder: Attempts to contact an individual or organisation have been successful, but they have not responded. This is most likely to occur in an organisation where it has not been possible to find someone in the organisation with the authority to make a decision about the collection.
- Dissolved: For organisations that have been formally dissolved.
Keeping a record is important as it will help inform collection management decisions. For example, disposal or appraisal of such collections is generally not recommended.
“It is common not to have complete or coherent ownership information or terms of deposit for the very earliest collections deposited with an archive service. In such cases archive services are encouraged to act carefully, seek legal advice and refrain from disposal without additional information.”
The National Archives (2015). Deaccessioning and disposal: Guidance for archive services. Reproduced using an Open Government Licence.
Archive Service Accreditation (2025). Guidance for developing and completing an application
Historic England (2025). Toolkit for Managing the Ownership of Archaeological Finds in England. Includes a section on abandonment.
Managing Business Archives. Advice for archivists
The National Archives (2015). Deaccessioning and disposal: Guidance for archive services
Scottish Government (2015). Prescription and Title to Moveable Property (Scotland) Bill – Consultation
Scottish Business Archives Council (2020). Collecting in a Crisis. A Guide to Rescuing Business Records
Scottish Civic Trust (2022). Co-creating heritage projects with marginalised people (KB note: video embed?)
Scottish Law Commission (2012). Report 228: Report on Prescription and Title to Moveable Property
Scottish Law Commission (1980). Report 57: Report on lost and abandoned property
Lyn Stevens (2022). Living with a legacy – Managing the challenges of historic loans and lending at National Museums Scotland, Journal of the Australasian Registrars Committee 81 (pp28-31).
UK Government (2022). Bona vacantia dissolved companies (BVC1)
Professor Janet Ulph (2016). Frozen in Time: Orphans and Uncollected Objects in Museum Collections (covers United Kingdom). Section B covers uncollected loans.
Professor Janet Ulph (2016). The Legal and Ethical Status of Museum Collections (covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland). Section 6.4 covers uncollected loans.
Kevin Ward (1995). ‘Pre-registration title deeds. Part 1: legal issues of ownership, custody and abandonment’, Journal of Society of Archivists, Vol, 16. No. 1, spring 1995 p.p. 27-39.
Case study. University of Aberdeen Collections: understanding legacy deposits
The University of Aberdeen Collections contain more than 5,000 collections of manuscripts and archives, dating from antiquity to the 21st century. The University of Aberdeen is a 15th-century foundation, with King’s College established in 1495, Marischal College in 1593, and the University formed in 1860 from their fusion. Its archive service was established in 1969 as a professional service. Until 2000 the archive service accepted many collections on deposit/loan, including for indefinite or undefined periods of time and some with little or no documentation. The scale of this issue was unknown.
What they did:
- Selected a representative sample from different types of collections: family and estate papers; business records; organisations; and personal papers.
- Conducted an assessment to categorise them as: owned, loaned or unknown.
What the process revealed:
- The number of collections that had unknown or unclear ownership was extremely high.
- Collections documentation is sparse until 2000; after this the accession files are more complete.
- Several collections were potentially at risk. This included the potential withdrawal of collections; the inability to conduct conservation on collections in poor condition without permission from the owner; and limited use of collections for research and learning, where access restrictions have been imposed.
- Addressing the issues of legacy deposits was resource-heavy and time-consuming.
Outcomes:
- The service developed a strategy to deal with legacy deposits, which could be delivered using the current staffing capacity, prioritising those collections with unknown ownership.
- Depositors/owners are traced and contacted. As a result, one of three options is applied to the collection:
- Convert to a donation/gift (owned by the university).
- Donation/gift using the acceptance in lieu or cultural gifts schemes.
- Convert to a five-year rolling deposit (loan).
- Improved knowledge of how collections can be used and accessed for teaching, research and outreach.
- Learned that despite seeming difficult, interactions with depositors were actually positive. Relationships and expectations on both sides are much clearer, and collections can be used and managed more effectively.