Last week, Wells Fargo announced that, in connection with its plan to move its headquarters to a new location in San Francisco, the company will sell its longtime headquarters building at 420 Montgomery Street and close the Wells Fargo Museum there.

This raises the uneasy question of what is to become of a number of significant Emperor Norton-related artifacts in the Wells Fargo collection — including at least two of the Emperor’s signed promissory notes and a rare statuette of the Emperor made in 1877. One of the notes has been on display at the Museum for years.

Wells Fargo has kept these items in its care for decades, even generations — for which the bank deserves thanks.

But, in order to preserve and even increase access to these Norton artifacts by researchers and the public, Wells Fargo now should donate them to one or more San Francisco institutions that (a) are dedicated to collecting, archiving, and presenting San Francisco historical resources, and that (b) have the capacity to make these artifacts available for inspection by researchers and occasional exhibition viewing by the public.

Two obvious candidates are the San Francisco History Center (at the San Francisco Public Library) and the San Francisco Historical Society.

There is nothing wrong with a change of stewardship for these Norton artifacts. But, there is a right way and a wrong way to do it.

If Wells Fargo does decide to relinquish its Norton artifacts, whether by donating them or selling them, the dispensation should be a matter of record — so that information about these items doesn't get orphaned and the items themselves effectively "disappeared."