DONATE

We also accept donations by

All donations to the Borscht Belt Museum are tax deductible.

Use the form to donate quickly and securely via Donorbox. Checks can be made payable to "Committee for a Catskills Resort Museum" and mailed to:

Catskills Borscht Belt Museum
P.O. Box 45
Ellenville, N.Y. 12428

The nonprofit Committee for a Catskills Resort Museum is a registered 501c3, and our taxpayer ID is 90-0619351.

A copy of our most recently filed financial report is available from the Charities Registry on the New York State Attorney General’s website at www.charitiesnys.com or, upon request, by contacting the Charities Bureau, 28 Liberty Street, New York, NY 10005, or us at the address above. You may obtain information on charitable organizations from the New York State Office of the Attorney General by calling (212) 416-8401. 

Donate to our Collection

The Catskills Borscht Belt Museum accepts donations of objects and archival materials that are historically significant. If you have a Borscht Belt document, sign, brochure, souvenir, menu, photographs, video, audio, hotel uniform or three-dimensional objects, please consider a donation to the museum and its archive. We frequently receive donation offers, and some objects are truly one of a kind, but unfortunately we do not have the space to accept everyone’s generosity. Given our limited storage space and resources, please reach out to the museum before sending anything our way.

For more information about making a donation, please see our FAQ’s below.

FAQs

  • If you believe that you have material that might be of interest to the museum, please contact us. Describe what you have as clearly and specifically as possible. Please do not bring or send any donations of material to the Museum without first contacting our staff.

  • We are interested in collecting the following types of material that document the Borscht Belt: brochures, pamphlets, postcards, and original photographs. In addition, negatives, film, videotapes, and audiotapes are valuable in documenting the history of the era.

  • Donations may be tax deductible. Please consult your tax advisor and refer to IRS publications 526 and 561, and form 8283.

  • Unfortunately we are not able to make appraisals; however, we may be able to provide you with some additional historical information if you require it.

  • Unfortunately, we don't have the resources to process and house material that does not belong to the museum.

  • We do not have the funds to purchase items for our collection. Instead, we rely upon the generosity of the public to donate archival material that supports the museum’s mission of chronicling the history of the Borscht Belt.

  • Shortly after receiving your donation, we will send you two copies of a Deed of Gift for your signature. After you sign, date, and return both copies to us, we will return an executed copy for your records.

  • Copyright refers to ownership of the contents of a document rather than ownership of the physical item itself. Thus, copyright resides with the creator of the document unless they have legally transferred it to another person or institution. When you sign the Deed of Gift, you will be transferring any copyrights you hold to the Archives. This transfer of copyright is important in terms of making the documents fully available to researchers.

  • In rare cases, especially if the material is located in the greater New York City area, Hudson Valley or Catskill region, a museum volunteer or staff member may be able to review the items in situ. In most cases, however, we will not be able to review the material in person. A detailed description of the material in your collection will be instrumental in helping us make an assessment.