Northern Illinois University
Pick Museum of Anthropology
Department of Anthropology

Monetary Donations

Please consider making a charitable donation to the James B. and Rosalyn L. Pick Museum of Anthropology and invest in our future. Your contribution aides the museum in carrying out its mission to foster imagination, curiosity and an appreciation for cultural diversity through dynamic educational experiences. All contributions are tax-deductible and go directly to supporting collections care, exhibit development, educational programs and community outreach that engage students in innovative museum practices and professional training.

To make a donation electronically, visit the NIU Foundation site. Donations can also be made via check. Make checks payable to:

The James B. and Rosalyn L. Pick Museum of Anthropology
Department of Anthropology
Northern Illinois University
DeKalb, IL 60115

For more information on ways to support our mission, please contact Rachelle Wilson Loring at 815-753-0230 or rwilsonloring@gmail.com.

Please help us continue our mission and give whatever you can today! We still have much work to do!

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Object Donations

We are honored to be considered as a permanent home for your objects. Following are an introduction to donor guidelines the Pick Museum requires in order to accept new objects into our collection. All potential donations must fit our mission and collecting scope. In addition to the following donor guidelines, our staff does not provide object appraisals. Drop-off donations will not be accepted and all potential object donations must be approved by our collections committee prior to becoming a new acquisition. If you would like to learn more about how to donate objects to the museum or if you would like to schedule a meeting to discuss your objects, please contact our curator Laura McDowell Hopper at lmcdowellhopper@niu.edu. Thank you!

• The donor freely consents and grants the museum, its assignees, licensees and successors, the right to record his/her name, contact information and documentary information and images relating to the donated objects. The donor also consents and grants the aforementioned parties the right to use, adapt, publish, print, broadcast, transmit and distribute, in whole or in part, in any and all languages, in any and all media and formats now known or hereinafter devised and the right to sublicense the publication, exhibition, broadcast, transmission, distribution and translations rights now and in the future, with the exception of private contact information.
• The goal of preserving our collections, limited gallery space and the policy of changing exhibitions do not allow the museum to permanently exhibit any object.
• If the deed of gift has not been signed by the donor after 90 days of notification of its acceptance for the museum’s collections, the artifacts listed on the deed will become the property of the museum, according to the terms stated on this document and on the temporary receipt (previously signed by the donor), without any liability accruing to the museum or its agents or employees.
• All donations to the museum will be outright, unconditional and irrevocable gifts to the James B. and Rosalyn L. Pick Museum of Anthropology (hereafter referred to as the museum) and will become the complete and total property of the museum at the time of the donor’s signature on the deed of gift.
• Donations may be tax deductible. The museum, however, does not provide an appraisal of the gift. It is the responsibility of the donor to obtain this.
• Because interests and objectives change and subsequent acquisitions may be in better condition or more useful for the museum’s purposes, no guarantee can be made that the artifacts on the face of this agreement will always remain under ownership of the museum or in the collection designated herein. If removed from the museum’s collection at any point, the museum will make every effort to transfer the objects to another museum more likely to display or utilize the objects in the future. The museum is not required to notify the original donor of an object’s removal from the collections.
• There are two types of collections currently maintained by the museum:
  • Permanent Collection: Objects, documents, photographs or other material culture accepted for the permanent collection with long-term preservation as the primary focus. These contribute strongly to the museum’s mission and have strong documentation. They may be used for exhibition, research and the further documentation of other parts of the collection. Artifacts with this designation are stored in a climate-controlled environment and in areas where light levels are regulated. Objects may be used by students, faculty or the general public for research, class projects or to train future museum professionals.
  • Use/Education/Reference Collection: General reference materials, materials used as props or decorations in exhibits or objects that can easily be brought to classrooms across NIU’s campus. These materials do not require conditions for long-term preservation.
• The donor’s signature also constitutes free consent and permission to use his/her/their name in the exhibit or online display of donated objects, including but not limited to use on the museum's website, exhibitions, promotional brochures, broadcasts and transmissions.