AAM Standards Regarding Archaeological Material and Ancient Art

On August 11, 2008 the American Association of Museums (AAM) released a new standard regarding museum acquisition of archaeological material and ancient art that emphasizes proper provenance of such objects and complete transparency on the part of the acquiring institutions.

The product of two years of concerted research and vetting from the museum field, Standards Regarding Archaeological Material and Ancient Art provides clear ethical guidance on collecting such material so as to discourage illicit excavation of archaeological sites or monuments. Crafted by the specially created AAM Task Force on Cultural Property and then modified in response to comments from the field, the Standards were approved by the AAM Board of Directors at its July meeting in Minneapolis.

“The museum community is deeply concerned about international looting of cultural materials and the resulting destruction of sites and information,” said Ford W. Bell, AAM president. “These standards will help U.S. museums shape their policies and practices to effectively promote the preservation of our common cultural patrimony.”

The new Standards require museums to have a publicly available collections policy setting out the institution's standards for provenance — that is, history of ownership — concerning new acquisitions of archaeological material and ancient art. According to the Standards, museums should also make publically available the known ownership history of all such objects in their collections. Finally, the Standards recommend November 17, 1970, the date on which the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export, and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property was signed, as the minimum date to which museums should require a documented provenance for future acquisitions.

Members of the AAM Task Force on Cultural Property:

Alex Barker, Director
Museum of Art & Archaeology, University of Missouri

Graham Beal, Director
Detroit Institute of Art

Sharon Cott, Secretary and General Counsel
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Gail Harrity, Chief Operating Officer
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Steven High, Director
Telfair Museum of Art

Karl Hutterer, Director
Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History

Douglass W. McDonald, President and CEO
Cincinnati Museum Center

Martin Sullivan, Director
National Portrait Gallery

Gary Vikan, CEO and Director
The Walters Art Museum

W. Richard West, Jr., Founding Director Emeritus
National Museum of the American Indian