This really happened: or the joys of tracking down poorly documented archaeological collections

This is yesterday's phone conversation with the long-time collections manager/curator of a museum for bird and mammal remains collected by professors in the 1940s and before:

Me: "I'm looking for archaeological materials sent to you in the 1930s."
Curator: "I don't work with archaeological materials.  We just have birds and mammals."
Me: "That's exactly why I'm contacting you.  According to our records, 4 boxes of faunal materials from the dig, such as bird and mammal bones, were sent to you for analyses, and we'd like to know if you still have them."
Curator: "We don't have archaeological materials."
Me: "Our records say they were sent to Dr. ____ at this institution in 1935.  There's no record that they were returned to us.  You have his collection in your holdings.  How do I find out whether or not they're in that collection?"
Curator: "That was a long time ago.  I wouldn't even know who you should ask."

NO WAY TO FIND OUT WHAT'S IN THE COLLECTION!?!  Collections is usually one of the first places to be hit by budget cuts, and archaeology is notorious for backlogged collection processing, but no catalog/finding aid/knowledge of how to find a prominent professor's collection when you're the person in charge of collections at a museum you've worked at for AT LEAST 10 years?  It's 4 boxes, not a random bone!  Also, no archaeological collections in a biology museum begun in the early 1900s by professors constantly receiving and analyzing archaeological materials?  Unlikely.

Guess which museum will be getting a personal visit from me this winter!