Ethics

Monday Musing: On Small Dead Things

By Elizabeth Merritt

15 minutes of top-of-my-head thoughts on a story featured in last week’s Dispatches from theFuture of Museums e-newsletter. One of the things that drove me out of graduate school (besides the dismal ROI of remaining for a PhD.) was the …
What Do Ethical Consumers Expect of Museums?

By Elizabeth Merritt

An open letter released today calls on natural history and science museums to “cut all ties with the fossil fuel industry and funders of climate change obfuscation.” The letter, signed by scientists and by one former museum trustee & …
Monday Musing: TrendsWatch Watch

By Elizabeth Merritt

Here’s a quick roundup of recent stories related to the themes in TrendsWatch 2015 (Haven’t got your copy yet? Download the free PDF here. Print copies will be available in the AAM Bookstore soon.) Open Data Here’s a story I featured in …
Shaping the Future of Museum Ethics

By Elizabeth Merritt

Today the Alliance is launching a survey asking for input on what museum professionals think should be included in the definition of direct care. Sally Yerkovich, Chair of the AAM Direct Care Task Force, explains why this is a pressing …
Sold out of science: embracing private collectors in natural history museums.

By Elizabeth Merritt

Is there such a thing as déjà prevu—the feeling of seeing something that you intended to write, but haven’t, yet? This feeling swept over me recently when I read a piece by Mark Carnall, curator at the Grant Museum of Zoology and …
Futurist Friday: Artifacts of the Future

By Elizabeth Merritt

What artifacts will history museums of the future collect, and how will we interpret them? Scenarios—fictional stories of potential futures—can help us imagine how we would adapt to alternative outcomes. Often scenarios can be found in …
Ethics Smackdown: For the Resolution

By Elizabeth Merritt

This is the fourth and (for now) final installment of our report on the debate held at the Alliance in May regarding the future of museum ethics. In today’s post, James Bradburne, director of the Palazzo Strozzi in Firenze, Italy, makes …
Ethics Smackdown: Against the Resolution

By Elizabeth Merritt

This is the third installment in our report from the Ethics Smackdown at the Alliance annual meeting, debating whether museums should loosen the ethics restrictions governing the use of funds resulting from the sale of deaccessioned …
Required Elements of a Museum Code of Ethics

By American Alliance of Museums

In this recorded webinar, presenters discuss why every museum should have a tailored Code of Ethics that addresses the institution's specific issues, outlines its basic ethical and public trust responsibilities as a museum and educational …
Ethics Smackdown: Preamble

By Elizabeth Merritt

Last week I wrote about the Ethics Smackdown that took place at the Alliance annual meeting last month. This week, Sally Yerkovich, director of the Institute of Museum Ethics at Seton Hall University and moderator of the debate, sets the …