Regulate This! The Acquisition of Imported Cultural Property by United States Museums
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Authors
McMahan, Sheryl Danielle
Issue Date
2011
Type
Capstone
Language
en
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
As an emerging collections manager being trained in ethical and responsible practice, I was astonished in late 2010 when I saw a news headline from an article in 2008 that read "Museums Raided by Feds." I wondered, how is that possible? What happened? How does this kind of action impact the museum collection? All of these questions were swirling in my head as I conducted further research into the 2008 federal raid on multiple Southern Californian museums.
I received few answers to my initial questions when conducting preliminary research on the topic, but an issue emerged that further peaked my interest. I noticed that all the museums involved in the raid were in violation of cultural property importation laws. This led me to ask a series of questions: What type of importation laws exist? What does federal regulation look like in museums? What influences do the laws have on museum acquisition practices? Is there a best practice for acquisitions of antiquities by museums, and if so, what are they? All of these questions helped to shape this Master's project in which I explore how the acquisition practices of United States museums are influenced by the federal import regulation of cultural property.