Donations and Loans

Ellis Island Field Collection Storage

National Park Service, Statue of Liberty NM

Thank you for your interest in donating an item to the museum collection of Statue of Liberty National Monument, managed by the National Park Service.

In order to review objects for possible acquisition, we require the following details either by e-mail or by mail:

Statue of Liberty National Monument
ATTN: Museum Curator ACQUISITIONS
1 Ellis Island
Jersey City, NJ 07305-1776

* Photographs of the object (clear and legible)
* Any and all documentation, narrative or otherwise, that establishes fit within our scope of collection -- objects need to have a meaningful connection to the Statue of Liberty or Ellis Island to be considered
* Your name, email address, postal mailing address, and a phone number

All items entertained for acquisition must be approved by Statue of Liberty National Monument's collections advisory committee and final approval is executed by the park's Superintendent. Because the museum collections are primarily for research, we cannot guarantee that acquired items will be displayed in our permanent or temporary exhibits. The occasional loan of items in the museum collection to other institutions for temporary exhibits is possible upon request, but not guaranteed.

We currently have a backlog of items for acquisition and cannot provide a timeline to respond to your request.

The park cannot guarantee that any donations will be placed on exhibit as the museum collection is primarily used for research and available for loan to other organizations for exhibit or research.

Outgoing Loans of museum items are made to other institutions for exhibit or research purposes. If you are an institution interested in borrowing a museum item, please send a written proposal to the Park's superintendent describing the types of items needed and the reason for borrowing the items. The proposal should include an AAM facility report.

If the items requested are in the collection and the items are not rare, fragile or on loan to the Park, they may be loaned out. Other factors influencing the decision are security, display methods, lighting, environmental monitoring, pest control, and other conditions at the borrowing institution.