June 12, 2006
The museum community is deeply concerned about international looting of cultural and biological materials, and the resulting destruction of sites and information. As publicly accountable institutions holding cultural and biological material in the public trust, museums are exploring how they can shape their policies and actions to most effectively promote the preservation of our common cultural and biological heritage. As the voluntary, national membership association representing museums of all types and sizes, it is the role of the American Association of Museums to foster a discussion of cultural property issues and help the field identify shared ethical values to guide museums’ behavior.
To this end, in consultation with a broad range of other professional associations, AAM has appointed an ethics taskforce of the board of directors to examine cultural property issues. The taskforce is charged to examine whether existing AAM statements and policies adequately address issues of cultural property, seek consensus regarding what, if anything, needs to be added, and draft recommended new guidelines for discussion by the field. The taskforce will identify and clarify the points of contention if consensus cannot be reached. The taskforce will assist the field by suggesting practical strategies that museums can incorporate to achieve the highest ethical standards in collection stewardship and public accountability.
At the same time, the Accreditation Commission, an independent decision-making body appointed by the AAM board, is developing a statement regarding how stewardship of cultural property will be assessed in museums undergoing review by the Commission. (Specific disciplines may in turn find they can identify in greater detail standards that apply to museums of particular types, e.g. art, natural history).
It is a key characteristic of the nonprofit sector in the US that it is largely self-regulating, particularly in the realm of ethical conduct. Collections care is a matter of both law and ethics. Expectation of legal compliance is a given, though in the case of ownership and export of cultural property, it can be sometimes hard to determine what the law requires under the web of various conflicting and overlapping laws, treaties, and court decisions. Ethically, the issue is even more complex. What portion of scarce resources should a museum devote to proactive research on provenance versus, for example, conservation and stabilization? How does a museum determine the ethical owners of material of cultural or biological significance—who might not always be the same as a political entity with legal standing to claim it? Is a museum’s primary ethical responsibility returning material to the source country, or ensuring that the material is preserved and accessible in the public domain? Because these are difficult and important questions on which professionals with varied experience and philosophies disagree, the process is likely to be protracted. But a deliberate and inclusive process will ensure that any standards established will have wide support in the museum community.
AAM expects that the taskforce will build on well-accepted principles found in the existing Code of Ethics for Museums, and the Characteristics of an Accreditable Museum, for example:
Collections in a museum’s custody are lawfully held, protected, secure, unencumbered, cared for, and preserved
All of a museum’s policies and actions should be guided by its mission statement, which set forth the reason that the museum exists, and identifies who it serves
Museums have responsibilities to their communities, which may include an international community of people who identify with their collections
A core responsibility of museums to their communities is transparency and accountability—being clear about what they hold, what their policies are for managing it, and making this information available
As the taskforce proceeds with its work, AAM will report on its progress in Aviso and on the AAM Web site. There will be sessions scheduled at the Annual Meeting in Chicago May 13-17, 2007, at which the field can give further input on this issue and comment on any statements that have been prepared by that time.
AAM Ethics Taskforce on Cultural Property
Alex Barker, Director,
Museum of Art & Archaeology, University of Missouri
Graham Beal, Co-Chair, Director,
Detroit Institute of Art
Rick Beard, Independent Professional
Sharon Cott, Secretary and General Counsel,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Gail Harrity, Co-Chair, Chief Operating Officer,
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Steven High, Director/CEO,
Nevada Museum of Art
Karl Hutterer, Director,
Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History
Douglass McDonald, President & CEO,
Cincinnati Museum Center
Martin Sullivan, Director,
Historic St. Mary’s City
Gary Vikan, CEO and Director,
The Walters Art Museum
AAM staff supporting the work of the Taskforce:
Kim Igoe,
Vice President of Policy and Programs
Elizabeth Merritt, Director,
Museum Advancement & Excellence
Erik Ledbetter, Senior Manager,
International Programs
