No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
Disposals from Museum Collections: Ethics and Practicalities
... The so-called fourth world people in former settler states such as the US, Australia and New Zealand, were among the first to reclaim their ancestors' remains and heritage from museums, but more followed suit. Subsequently, questions about returning ethnographic artefacts to their originating communities have come to the fore and been addressed from different perspectives by a number of scholars (Besterman 1992, Davis 1997, Curtis 2006, Geismar 2008, Krmpotich 2010, Kuprecht 2014, Simpson 2009, O'Neill 2017. As argued in chapter 4, museum artefacts are increasingly referred to as heritage, and the concept of heritage is often applied, when someone -whether a nation state or a group -is claiming what is referred to as heritage. ...
... Weiss 2008;Jenkins 2016), and on changes in the way human remains are now cared for, treated, displayed, and stored (e.g. Besterman 1992;Palmer 2003;Fossheim 2013). In this article, by contrast, the focus will be on the effects of repatriation on the descendant communities from which these remains originate. ...
For the past 20 years, the main focus of repatriation-related publications has been how the return of human remains has affected the institutions in which the remains reside. Be that with regard to the loss to science or public good, or changes in the way human remains are now cared for, treated, displayed, and stored. But what about the effects on the descendant communities from which these remains originate? There are some examples of Indigenous perspectives regarding the importance of repatriation in the literature, but these are few and far between by comparison. This article examines the importance of returning Māori ancestral remains back to descendant communities, and the development of the repatriation movement in Aotearoa New Zealand. The ethical consideration relating to research on Māori ancestral remains is also explored to understand how scientific research is viewed and used in the Aotearoa New Zealand context. Certain academics and scientists have commented over the years that repatriation is a loss to science and a purely political ploy. It is hoped that by sharing some of the impacts that are dealt with from a Māori perspective, that there is a better understanding of how this effects indigenous communities all around the world.
... Пункт (а) отражает главным образом озабоченность сообщества «зелёных алармистов» тем отрицательным эффектом, который «сверхколлекционная» активность может сказываться на (в принятых здесь терминах) структуре природных сообществ, прежде всего на численности редких видов; в данном случае речь идёт о биоэтике в её природоохранном (а не биомедицинском) значении (Loftin, 1992;Norton et al., 1994;Winker, 1996;Remsen, 1997;Collar, 2000;Donegan, 2008;Winker et al., 2010;Minteer et al., 2014). Пункт (б) направлен на то, чтобы поступающие в коллекции материалы не выпадали из научного и образовательного оборота: такое выпадение (синдром «скупого рыцаря») означает, что все траты на сбор и хранение коллекций, не говоря о влиянии на природные сообщества, оказываются «зряшными»; здесь имеется в виду прежде всего профессиональная этика кураторов (Павлинов, 1990;American…, 1992;Besterman, 1992;Developing…, 2012;Turner, 2014;Ekosaari et al., 2015). Пункт (в) особенно активно обсуждается в связи с проблемой хранения и реституции материалов, если на них претендуют национальные, этнические, религиозные и т. п. сообщества (Sullivan et al., 2000;Verna, 2011;Kakaliouras, 2014;Nichols, 2014). ...
The focuse of biology, as a science, on the study and explanation of the similarities and differences between organisms led in the second half of the 20th century to the recognition of a specific subject area of biological research, viz. biodiversity (BD).
One of the most important general scientific prerequisites for this shift was understanding that (at the level of ontology) the structured diversity of nature is its fundamental property equivocal to subjecting of some of its manifestations to certain laws. At the level of epistemology, this led to the acknowledging that the “diversificationary” approach to description of the living nature is as justifiable as the formerly dominated “unificationary” approach.
This general trend has led to a significant increase of attention to BD proper. From a pragmatic perspective, its leitmotif was conservation of BD as a renewable resource; from a scientific perspective, the leitmotif was studying BD as a specific natural phenomenon. These two points of view are combined by recognition of the need for scientific substantiation of BD conservation strategy, which implies the need for detailed research of the very BD.
At the level of ontology, in the study of BD (leaving aside the question of its genesis), one of the key problems is elucidation of its structure, which is interpreted as a manifestation of the structure of the Earth’s biota itself. With this, it is acknowledged that the subject area of empirical research is not the BD as a whole ( “Umgebung”) but its various particular individual manifestations (“Umwelts”). Within the latter, it is suggested herewith to recognize: fragments of BD (especially taxa and ecosystems), hierarchical levels of BD (primarily within- and interorganismal ones), and aspects of BD (before all taxonomic and meronomic ones).
Attention is drawn to a new interpretation of bioinformatics as a discipline that studies the information support of BD research and protection. An important fraction of this support are museum (and eventually any other) biocollections.
The scientific value of biocollections means that they provide a possibility of both empirical inferring and testing (verification) of the knowledge about BD. This makes biocollections, in their epistemological status, equivalent to experiments, and so it makes collection-based studies on BD quite scientific. It is emphasized that collections of natural objects (naturalia) contain primary (objective) information about BD, while information retrieved somehow from these objects is a secondary (subjective) one.
Collection, as an information resource, serves as a research sample in the studies of BD. Collection pool, as the totality of all materials kept in all collections over the world, can be treated as a general sample, with every single collection being a local sample. The main characteristic of collection as a sample is its representativeness; so the basic strategy of development of the collection pool is to maximize its representativeness as a means to ensure correspondence of the structure of the biocollection pool to that of BD itself.
The most fundamental characteristic of the collection pool, as an information resource for BD studies and protection, is its scientific significance. More particular characteristics of research collections are as following:
ormativeness, reliability, adequacy, documenting, systematicity, volume, structure, uniqueness, stability, lability;
— the “external” characteristics of collection are its resolution, usability, ethic constituent;
— the “service” characteristics of collection are its museofication, storage system security, inclusion in metastructure, cost.
In the contemporary world, development of the biocollection pool, as a specific resource for BD research and conservation, requires development of an “extravertal” strategy and considerable organizational efforts, including “information support” aimed at demonstrating necessity of the existence and development of museum biocollections.
... Paragraph (a) refl ects mainly the anxiety of the "green alarmists" community about negative effect that "supercollection" activity can impact (in terms adopted here) on the structure of natural communities, primarily on abundance of the rare species (Loftin, 1992;Norton et al., 1994;Remsen, 1997;Winker, 1996;Collar, 2000;Donegan, 2008;Winker et al., 2010;Minteer et al., 2014). Paragraph (b) refl ects mainly the anxiety of collection curators about due involvement of collection materials into current research and educational processes: an absence of such involvement ( "The Miserly Knight" syndrome) means that all expenses for acquisition and storage of collections, not to mention their effects on natural communities, are "wasted" (Павлинов, 1990;American..., 1992;Besterman, 1992;Developing..., 2012;Turner, 2014;Ekosaari et al., 2015). Paragraph (c) is discussed especially actively in connection with the problem of storage and restitution of the materials, if they are claimed to by national, ethnic and religious communities (Sullivan et al., 2000;Verna, 2011;Kakaliouras, 2014;Nichols, 2014). ...
The attached text is an English translation of those several sections of the original paper in Russian, where collection-related issues are considered.
... Regarding deaccessioning, Besterman (1992) maintained that curatorial ethics should stipulate that curators show the same duty of care for all accessioned objects however they were acquired. Besterman also thought that it is unethical to neglect material (i.e. ...
Curatorial practices are shifting due to recent changes in the focus and structure of U.S. art museums (Brenson, 1998; Bryk, 2001; Willumson, 2007). As a result, curators experienced conflicts due to a loss of their original audience, the collapse of their traditional hierarchy, new staff roles in museums, and the museum’s focus on visitors rather than art objects (Weil, 2003; Willumson, 2007). It was important to conduct this study to determine ways to resolve these conflicts so curators can properly function within their institutions and fulfill their larger goal of serving the public.
Using a reconceptualized framework developed by van Mensch (1990), this study qualitatively explored curatorial practices at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The main data included four in-depth interviews with Rijksmuseum senior curators, observations at the Museum, and documents evaluation. The study uncovered how equality and collaboration among curators and staff can fulfill museum functions and may help resolve certain conflicts. It also revealed how in some cases curators can maintain their traditional functions while serving the broader public through the creation of exhibitions that facilitate education and provide meaningful connections. As a non-U.S. institution, the Rijkmuseum’s curatorial practices provided insight regarding problems experienced by U.S. art curators.
This article uses Tate as a case study through which to explore the ethical dimensions of museums’ and galleries’ efforts to create participatory digital encounters for visitors. To what extent, it asks, is a framework for a digital museum ethics beginning to emerge at Tate? Using data from a suite of interviews with the digital team at Tate, this article reveals an organization ready for considered engagement with the knottier extensions of the debate about museums’ digital practice in 2015, but a concern about how to ensure staff members have the skills and confidence to lead and take part in those discussions on the ground.
The sale by Northampton Borough Council (UK) of the Egyptian Sekhemka statue at auction house Christie’s became a key focus of international debate about contemporary museum ethics in 2015–2016. A decision to deaccession and dispose of a museum object would not traditionally be the subject of intense media scrutiny, but the case of Sekhemka was widely reported in local, national and international press. This article takes as its start point the question ‘What did media reporting of the sale of Sekhemka reveal about contemporary museum ethics, and the terms of their debate?’ It reports findings from a content and discourse analysis of 229 news stories dating from late 2012 when the sale was first proposed, to May 2016 when it was reported that in all probability the Sekhemka statue had finally left the country. The ambiguous and intriguing sale of Sekhemka might not be the last as global economic and geopolitical circumstances continue to impact our valuations and uses of cultural heritage. This paper demonstrates that we would do well to keep media reporting of such events under close scrutiny in the interests of a considered and informed contemporary museum ethics.
For nearly a century, the Smithsonian Institution permanently distributed “duplicate specimens” from its museum collections to public educational institutions. In 1903 and 1905, shipments of anthropological material were sent to the Jackson Free Library in Jackson, Tennessee, to be used as educational tools. Using a biographical methodology, I trace the movement of objects from the Smithsonian Institution to this small library, their uses in Jackson, and their eventual return to the National Museum of Natural History in 2007. Through this case study, I argue that, while preservation is a key function of the museum, the determination of which objects museums keep is contingent on the discursive formations and value systems of museums, anthropologists, and curators. [deaccessioning, Smithsonian Institution, collections management, history of anthropology]
Over his long life Sigmund Freud collected at least 2500 antiquities, most of which are now on view to the public in the London Freud Museum. What has not previously been properly considered is to what degree Freud was archaeologically informed, and why he became involved in the ‘excavation’ of Duna-Pentele in modern Hungary. Much has been written (not least by psychoanalysts) on the possible symbolic significance both of his collecting and of what he collected. It is at least arguable that his purchasing of antiquities was more to do with his mood at any particular time, and what was available on the market. Over time, items in Freud’s collection have been ascribed different significances by Freud himself, and by others. The changing nature of assessments of the significance of material culture should be kept in mind when confronted by some of today’s politically correct stances.
This contribution to the debate on museum collecting and disposal takes as its starting point the results of a survey which demonstrates that museums are continuing to collect at a significant rate, and that disposal is not being used as a collections management tool. Museums are therefore currently unsustainable institutions, which pass on their expanded collections in a way that increases the management burden for future generations. In order to address this problem, it is argued that disposal must have a significant role to play in collections management. It is still rarely used because a professional reticence over the issue has developed, both through decades of training which has instilled a “presumption against disposal”, and because nearly all disposals have been done on pragmatic grounds of saving costs or space, with no coherent intellectual framework within which to justify them. What is needed is a review of the philosophy underpinning museum collecting and an examination of whether it still serves us well. The literature on cultural heritage and the anthropology of memory provides a framework for challenging the notion that museums still function as repositories of objects and specimens that represent an objective record or collective memory. Instead, they should be seen for what they are: partial, historically contingent assemblages that reflect the tastes and interests of both the times and the individuals who made them. The intellectual framework put forward allows us not to be solely beholden by the collecting decisions of our predecessors, but to re-work these object “memories” and to choose to “forget” some of them through disposal. Finally, some of the practical implications of this framework are examined. It does not mean that museums can dispose of anything they choose, but it does mean that, instead of treating all collections as having equal importance, the ascription of value must become a fundamental part of curatorship. A number of existing schemes that do this are summarized, and some prospects for future development are outlined.
The current campaign to return to Athens the Parthenon sculptures that have been in the British Museum since the early 19th century highlights the profoundly dual nature of Greek architectural and sculptural heritage, as emblems of both Greek and global attachment. Classical relics in particular have become symbols of Greek attachment to the homeland; underscoring links between past and present, they confirm and celebrate Greek national identity. Other elements of Greek heritage – language, literature, religion, folklore – likewise lend strength to this identity, but material remnants of past glories, notably temples and sculptures from the times of Phidias and Praxiteles, assume an increasingly important symbolic role (Cook 1984; Hitchens 1987).
1891. Museums of the Future: Report of the US National Museum
- Goode
‘The Cost of Collecting
- B Lord
The British Museum: Purpose and Politics 24London
- D Wilson
A Catalogue of Ancient, Mediaeval and Modem Coins 58London sold at auction 23 & 24 Sept
- Bonhams