[NYHighlanderFan]

I can not personally speak about the baseball HoF. But I can speak of my experiences donating to the Hockey HoF located up in Toronto.

I received the "royal tour" of the archives when I donated there. The archives are about 15 minutes west of downtown inside the complex where the Leafs practice, nowhere near the actual HoF. I was able to ask to see and able to hold anything I asked to see that was not currently on display. It was an incredible experience which I will not hesitate to experience again. And to see firsthand how they archive their artifacts is unreal. And I can image the baseball HoF guys would be the same way. It was fascinating! They freeze any items that come back into the archives from display or any new donations. They will thaw the items out and then freeze everything a second time over a 5-6 day period. This practice kills any mites or material-destroying cells that may be hiding inside a jersey or whatever. This assures the items having safe and the highest preservation storage possible. The film and negative rooms are chilly. There are dozens upon dozens of filing cabinets with everything imaginable.

The option of donating to a small museum has the best intentions, no doubt! My only concern with small museums are their guarantee of remaining open. We can all name quite a few local smaller museums which have closed over time. If collectors consigned to a private museum and it goes under, is there really a 100% guarantee of getting whatever back? Or will everything end up absorbed in a bankrupcy issue and end up in the hands of a bank from another state?