Still, as miraculous as this fight against deterioration is, most curators, conservators, collections managers, and registrars would tell you that it’s only the most basic meaning of what they consider collections stewardship. Increasingly, these colleagues spend their days weighing the integrity of objects against the integrity of our institutions: the line between conservation and access, the conflict between legal ownership and unethical provenance, and the balance between protecting objects and protecting the environment, to name only a few. As you’ll learn in this issue of the magazine, caring for collections today is a lot more complicated than fighting off mold or light damage. 

To help with this difficult daily work, AAM strives to be the best source of resources and information for the field. From templates to simplify your paperwork to foundational documents like the Core Standards for Collections Stewardship and Code of Ethics and Professional Practices for Collections Professionals, we offer key tools for managing the responsibilities of collections stewardship in the 21st century. And for ethical questions that remain unsettled, we continue to convene critical discussions, such as our recent Next Horizon series compiling the varied visions and viewpoints of people on the front lines of repatriation, restitution, and reparations.

As the history of our Alliance attests, all formal standards and best practices start from open-ended conversations like these, with our peers and communities stepping up to debate their ideas about what’s best for our field. I’d like to thank this issue’s contributors for sharing their expertise and perspectives, and I hope after reading them you will be inspired to offer your own knowledge. Why not start by joining our Collections Stewardship Community on Museum Junction? With almost 20,000 members and counting, it’s the ideal place to find the guidance you need as you steward our cultural heritage through the next phase of its life.

6/23/2025