Posts
Collections Stewardship
Closing the GAAP on Direct Care
As lawyers with backgrounds in horticulture (Lori) and material culture studies (Sarah), we never thought we would be passionate about an accounting rule. Yet here we are. In 2015 we wrote …
Revolutionary War fighting ended in 1781. The last shots exploded 2 months ago.
RICHMOND In an uh-oh episode of historic proportions, hand grenades from the last major battle of the Revolutionary War recently and repeatedly scrambled bomb squads in Virginia's capital …
Clean House to Survive? Museums Confront Their Crowded Basements
Fueled by philanthropic zeal, lucrative tax deductions and the prestige of seeing their works in esteemed settings, wealthy art owners have for decades given museums everything from their …
Statues of Limitation
This article originally appeared in the March/April 2019 issue of Museum magazine, a benefit of membership with the Alliance. Click here to learn more about membership! Are museums the …
See Behind the Scenes as the Statue of Liberty’s Original Torch Moves to Its New Home
The Statue's torch was replaced years ago; now the original is getting a new home. Here's a look inside the delicate work of…
Is It Time to Break Your Museum’s Organizational Mold?
Over the course of the twentieth century, and into today, museums have witnessed dramatic changes in their organizational and funding environments—some driven from within the museum field, …
Writing Fashion History at the Met, One Dress at a Time
How a behind-the-scenes museum team keeps 33,000 fashion ensembles alive and looking their best. Fashion history won't be written in ink. You can't even use a pen in the library at the Anna …
Museum to return First Nation skulls
The remains of two members of the Beothuk people are to be returned to Canada from Scotland. The skulls of chief Nonosbasut and his wife Demasduit were acquired by the National Museum of …
Double Duty: How a historic botanical garden reached a balance in managing its plant and art collections
All museums face many challenges maintaining and displaying their collections. But these challenges are exacerbated when collections of vastly different needs and care protocols share the …
Who are Western museums guarding African artefacts from?
On November 23, France announced it was going to return 26 works of art to Benin illegally obtained after the French conquest of the Kingdom of Dahomey (modern-day Benin) in the 19…
An ‘Endangered’ Artifact Allows a Small Museum to Better Tell Its Story
In the Summer of 2017, a supporter of the Edith Bolling Wilson Birthplace Museum notified us that the former First Lady’s original 1904 automobile operator’s permit was for sale on eBay. …
Wikipedia Is Digitally ‘Preserving’ Items Destroyed in the Brazil National Museum Fire
This world-changing genius was born into poverty on September 22, 1791. Fortunately for us, Michael Faraday refused to let his background stand in his way. 1. HE WAS LARGELY SELF-EDUCATED. …