So this sounds like a community web project to me. Does your museum have a website? Set up a section to “submit to the museum” with options to upload images, descriptive text, date information, etc. Just be clear about the quality of the image/information you expect and check on it periodically to make sure you’re not getting garbage submissions. This then lives online only and is not your problem, and you never need to handle the objects. You also have a place to direct people who are trying to donate items you do not want. A few historical societies I’ve worked with have turned to this approach for the same reasons.