Collections Stewardship

Germany first to hand back Benin bronzes looted by British

Philip Oltermann, The Guardian

Germany is to become the first country to hand back the Benin bronzes looted by British soldiers in the late nineteenth century. A decision on the restitution was facilitated by the fact …

Museum specimens could help fight the next pandemic – why preserving collections is crucial to future scientific discoveries

Jocelyn P. Colella, Bryan McLean, The Conversation

This paper outlines how existing loopholes in U.S. federal data policies, backward data priorities by scientific journals and a culture of data ownership have made it too easy for …

Baltimore Museum to Sell 3 Blue-Chip Paintings to Advance Equity

The Baltimore Museum of Art is deaccessioning three paintings, by Brice Marden, Clyfford Still and Andy Warhol, and expects to receive approximately $65 million from a combination of an …

Building True, Lasting Collaborations with Source Communities

Meredith Schweitzer

It’s well-documented by this point: museums are changing. No longer solely repositories of information and keepers of culturally important artifacts, museums today are taking on new roles …

Eye of the Storm: How Do Museums Prepare for Hurricanes during a Pandemic?

Lori Foley and Cori Wegener

It’s a Thursday afternoon in July and the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (MAPR) is almost empty. Director Marta Mabel Pérez is in her office, leading a virtual hub of staff and other …

Brooklyn Museum to Sell 12 Works as Pandemic Changes the Rules

It is the kind of sale that once would have engendered criticism, perhaps even sanctions: The Brooklyn Museum is putting 12 works up for auction at Christie's next month - including …

Of Law and Ethics: What do museums need to know in this new era of cultural property ownership disputes?

Suzanne Hale

This article originally appeared in the Summer 2020 issue of Museum magazine, a benefit of AAM membership. A tension often exists between the law and the ethics of collecting cultural …

Now What?: Project Ideas for Museum Staff Working Remotely

Cecelia Walls

By now, most of us are well into our stints of working from home. But weeks or months in, you might be finding it hard to think of new tasks you can do without access to your physical site. …

What Does a Welcoming Online Collections Portal Look Like?

Cassi Tucker

In late February 2020, the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University became the latest institution to launch an online collections portal, a feature that is increasingly …

One Museum’s Plan to Keep Its Full Staff During COVID-19

Joseph O'Neill

Like most sectors of the economy, the museum field is facing sharp losses in revenue and uncertainty about when they will be reversed. Many institutions have decided to lay off, furlough, …

Covid-19: the ethics of contemportary collecting

A statement from the Museums Association People who work in and with museums are already thinking about how we might collect objects, ephemera and stories relating to the Covid-19 …

#5WomenArtists Shaping Museum Practice

Elizabeth Merritt

Museums are among the most trusted sources of information and can use that superpower of trust to nudge society towards preferred futures. Today on the blog, Amy Mannarino, Director of …

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