Posts
Collections Stewardship
‘It Is an Unusual and Radical Act’: Why the Baltimore Museum Is Selling Blue-Chip Art to Buy Work by Underrepresented Artists
Most often when museums deaccession works of art or other historical objects, the proceeds are used to purchase other works by more prominent artists. Christopher Bedford has chosen a …
3D Scans Help Preserve History, But Who Should Own Them?
Who should own the digital copyright to online 3-D images of historic sites and objects? Google or the countries where these sites exist? What do you think? Read this NPR article about how …
‘It Is an Unusual and Radical Act’: Why the Baltimore Museum Is Selling Blue-Chip Art to Buy Work by Underrepresented Artists
This article discusses a recent announcement by the Baltimore Museum of Art to deaccession seven major artworks from it’s collection for the purpose of creating an acquisition fund …
Information PLEASE Preserving History as It Happens: Orange County Regional History Center undertook rapid-response collecting after Pulse nightclub shooting
This article originally appeared in the May/June 2018 issue of Museum magazine. On June 12, 2016, a home-grown terrorist entered Orlando’s Pulse nightclub during Latin Night after last …
Fifteen years after looting, thousands of artefacts are still missing from Iraq’s national museum
The article discusses the theft of artworks from Iraq’s National Museum and how the illegal trade of stolen antiquities persists, in part, due to the scale of demand for these …
Commerce vs. Curation: Lessons From Today’s Museums World
In this article, the author, Scott Reyburn examines the overlap between the financial operations of museums and their admissions alongside the role of curating permanent and special …
Even plastic art decays, but museum curators are on the case
Modern synthetic plastics are remarkably durable, but they do decay—whether they’re on display or dropped in a dump. While experts have been honing oil paint restoration techniques for …
The mirage of riches in museums’ vaults
The article examines recent discussions about the financial implications of deaccessioning from collections. In particular, the author challenges the assumption that selling collection …
The Persistent Crime of Nazi-Looted Art
In this Atlantic article, Sophie Gilbert, provides a history lesson on Nazi-Era repatriation through the lens of one specific Nazi looter, Cornelius Gurlitt. “The German authorities …
The New Face of Provenance Research
This article gives a brief overview of provenance research and its specific history as linked to the German looting of fine art from Jewish families and others from regions they occupied …
UK museum collecting at risk from lack of funding, report warns
The article highlights a study by Sir David Cannadine that examines the status of collecting in UK museums in the midst of declining public funding. Cannadine argues the fact that many …
Don’t Raid the Cookie Jar: Creating Early Interventions to Prevent Deaccessioning Crises
This paper summarizes the ideas and recommendations generated at “Don’t Raid the Cookie Jar: Creating Early Interventions to Prevent Deaccessioning Crises,” a convening …