Ethics Smackdown: Against the Resolution
Category:
Center for the Future Of Museums Blog
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 …
Direct Care of Collections: Ethics, Guidelines, and Recommendations
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Collections Stewardship
This article originally appeared in the July-August 2016 issue of Museum magazine. First issued in 2016, the white paper was updated in 2019 to reflect the updated FASB accounting standard …
Ethical Everything: managing the moral marketplace
“To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity.”—Douglas Adams Increasingly the press and our peers remind …
Let’s Be Proactive about Museum Ethics
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Center for the Future Of Museums Blog
We asked Sally Yerkovich, Director of the Institute of Museum Ethics at Seton Hall University and the chair of AAM’s Task Force on the Direct Care of Collections, to write about current …
Public Trust and Accountability Standards
Public trust is the principle that certain natural and cultural resources are preserved for public benefit. In essence, it means the public owns the collections, and they should be kept …
Step 1: Learn About Museums
Before starting a new museum, take time to learn about museums and the museum community. As the national organization representing museums of all kinds, the Alliance shares data about …
Retrenchment or Downsizing
In challenging economic times museums often experience a dramatic loss of revenue from multiple sources of income, including: admissions, store sales, programs, special events, endowments, …
Core Documents
The following five documents have been designated as core because they are fundamental for professional museum operations and embody core museum values and practices. They codify and guide …
What are Ethics? A Brief Essay in Plain English
Category:
Center for the Future Of Museums Blog
This essay introduces Round Two of the Forecasting the Future of Museum Ethicsexercise. Follow this link, to vote on which of which of the issues identified in Round One will be most …
Ethics Forecast Round 3 & the Future of Museum Standards
Category:
Center for the Future Of Museums Blog
This week we launch Round 3 of Forecasting the Future of Museum Ethics. As with previous rounds, the public is invited to weigh in at the same time (on a parallel track) as our recruited …
What Do Ethical Consumers Expect of Museums?
Category:
Center for the Future Of Museums Blog
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 …
Statement on the Deaccessioning by the Delaware Art Museum and the Action taken by the AAM Accreditation Commission
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Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 18, 2014 Washington, D.C.—Accreditation conferred by the American Alliance of Museums designates a museum’s credibility to donors, funders and the public. …