Quote Originally Posted by Bob C.
That's fine, Todd. You offered an opinion and I offered a different one.

I still say that the sporran should stay with a family that treasures it, rather than in a storeroom at a museum.

Besides, from the letter, it sounds like the museum is less interested in the sporran than in mrpharr's money.
Again, you're missing my point.

Quote Originally Posted by Maj. IL Riley TD Retd.
The identity of its original owner is likely to be Captain Arthur Twentyman and Dennis is likely to be able to tell you a substantial amount about this significant figure. He rates a serious mention in the regimental history by Colonel McGilchrist...snip
If everything checks out, and the sporran is ID'ed to Captain Twentyman, then I doubt the sporran will be kept in a "storeroom at a museum". Just doing a google search on Twentyman turned up this bit of information:

Noel's first patient was Captain Arthur Twentyman who was hit in the chest by a bullet only twenty four hours after arriving, he died of his wound.

-- http://www.chavasse.u-net.com/chavasse.html
The "Noel" in question was Capt. Noel Chavasse, Medical Officer for the Liverpool Scots, who also was awarded a Victoria Cross and Bar for his action in the First World War, the only man to be awarded the VC twice in the First World War. That's pretty impressive, to say the least. The VC is equivalent to our Congressional Medal of Honor, btw. (Emphasis mine)

As far as the money goes, I can understand why the museum would like to sell him a copy of the regimental history:

Quote Originally Posted by Maj. Riley
As you will have gathered from our website, we are a museum run entirely on a volunteer basis without public funding and we undertake to do our best to help you at all times.
As someone who has worked in the museum business, this is usually the norm and not the exception. Donations, gift shop sales, etc. are the lifeblood of many a museum, and without them, their doors would close and history would be lost. Even in the NPS, we depend on donations, sales by our bookstores, etc. to keep the doors open because of the "incredible shrinking budget". So, don't be too hard on the museum folks for asking for a donation for research services -- and I can attest to this as one who has spent a lot of hours researching genealogical queries for folks, it does take a lot of time, as well as copier toner and ink, paper, etc. to answer a "simple" question.

Just ask our own Matt Newsome about museum funding.

Todd