Comments on: How museums get their stuff: should we care?

By: Andy Jarosz

Andy Jarosz — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 17:19:08 +0000

Unisse and Donna – many thanks for adding your valuable thoughts to the discussion. You both make great points and in these two positions we find the strongest arguments: should precious artefacts stay where they originated or where they are considered to be more securely preserved? Historians (and professional looters) have argued over this for centuries and continue to do so.

By: Unisse @ Little Girl Travels

Unisse @ Little Girl Travels — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 13:10:04 +0000

This is very well written and poses a very good question to almost everyone who has visited a museum at least once.

Museums are connected to a country’s history and I think it’s better that each country gets to keep their own relics, even if the diggers were from another nation. I learned in our history class in college that a lot of Philippine relics are displayed in collections far from the Philippines which is why the museums here don’t have much.

By: Donna

Donna — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 23:22:26 +0000

There are no easy answers. Where will the things be best preserved? Where are they likely to be destroyed by political upheaval and war? I think those questions need to be asked as well.

By: Andy Jarosz

Andy Jarosz — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:59:00 +0000

Thanks for the great insights. Yen, I suspect the Chinese will have to wait a long time to get their loot back from the British – it will probably return when it’s tied to some trade deal or other. That’s the way these things often work… on second thoughts perhaps China has a better chance of getting its stuff back than Greece, India or any African state…
I like the idea of active lending to other museums but I suspect the British are nervous that items displayed in their native territories might not return…

By: Keith

Keith — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 09:13:50 +0000

I was talking to an amateur egyptologist only the other day, and she thought most of the stuff in the British Museum and Highclere was appropriated on the ‘finders keepers’ principle. She argued that, with the techniques and materials available nowadays, authentic replicas could be made, and most of the stuff returned to Egypt.

However, she had no argument with atrefacts freely presented to the museum as gifts.

By: Yen

Yen — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 06:05:48 +0000

Great article.
I have learned that many relics and antiques were looted from China by the British and French during the late 1800′s and early 1900′s. Chinese museums have since been urging these countries to return these properties back to them. Not sure if they have yet.

By: Nathan

Nathan — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:41:12 +0000

Nice piece. Very hard to reconcile the joys of the BM with the ‘imperial war chest, with lecture theatres’ view. Two related things I’d add:

1 – The best institutions can also offer world-class preservation and restoration (though that has, in certain cases, allowed them to simply deflect arguments about repatriation by snapping “NO! You’ll only ruin it!”).

2 – If return isn’t possible, or simply isn’t on the table, we can still argue museums should repay the moral cost of their acquisitions through active lending policies, granting access to researchers etc.. A good lending policy can help institutions elsewhere in the world improve their capacity for handling and storing certain pieces through sharing of expertise and tech.