As calls for the return of looted artifacts grow in the industry, the Penn Cultural Heritage Center (PennCHC) at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia is launching a study that will examine collecting policies and practices at U.S. museums and encourage transparency and responsibility in the sector. Launched today (October 29), the “Museums Project: Missions and Acquisitions” (called Project M2A for short) will study more than 450 museum collections to identify current standards and establish a framework for institutions to model their future practices.

“There has been a lot of discussion about generational change in museums sparking conversations about ethics, as well as a wave of early-career professionals who know something has to give,” says Brian I. Daniels, director of research and programs at PennCHC. , and principal investigator of the M2A project. “It’s time for us to advance research that takes stock of collection practices and plants the seeds of needed transformation in the sector. »

PennCHC has supported ethical collecting since its founding in 2008, including working closely with local communities in countries around the world to identify and preserve their cultural heritage. “American museums have historically acquired objects that were removed from these countries illegally or through routes now considered inequitable,” says Richard M. Leventhal, executive director of PennCHC and co-principal investigator of the M2A project. “The M2A project asks a series of very simple questions about these types of objects: are American museums still acquiring them? And if yes, why? Recent seizures of looted goods and calls for decolonization of collections force us to reconsider whether acquisitions best serve the missions of museums and the interests of their communities.

The M2A project was born from PennCHC’s on-call cultural property expert program which launched in 2020 in partnership with the U.S. Department of State’s Cultural Heritage Coordinating Committee to protect endangered cultural property from theft, looting, and trafficking. Through this program, PennCHC has collaborated with more than 100 museums and universities to study and document the trade in illicit artifacts.

“We realized we had a rich data set,” says Daniels. “After years of observing where illegal imports were going, identifying collecting problems, and understanding the intellectual needs of museums and their audiences, we realized that PennCHC was uniquely equipped to envision the future of collecting.

Funded by a $1.1 million national leadership grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the M2A project will include one-on-one interviews and workshops with U.S. museum stakeholders. The team will also review existing information, such as tax documents. They expect their methods to evolve as research develops and better understand the current state of collecting and identify areas requiring further research.

Many of the study’s intuitions, which include art, archeology and ethnography museums, have long-standing relationships with PennCHC and are already interested in addressing ethical collecting issues. The M2A project will provide a framework to deepen and align these partnerships and ongoing research. This work will help institutions communicate what ethical ownership looks like in the field and how to share that message with museum audiences.

“The question we hear most often from our colleagues is how to get organizations to have uncomfortable conversations,” says Daniels. “These conversations can happen internally or on a philosophical level externally, but they don’t happen in a way that evolves as a field. This project is not intended to create trap moments, but rather to recognize that museums are at an inflection point.

The team plans to host workshops and panels to share information as the research evolves and will publicly publish its findings online by 2027. This work will benefit institutions across the country and guide workers, leaders , decision-makers and policy makers on strategies that could be implemented or studied. further away. It will also inform further studies into the impact of these issues across the cultural sector and how museums can support ethical collecting by working together.

“PennCHC is an important partner in our proactive approach to collections practices: how we acquire, manage and repatriate cultural objects,” said Christopher Woods, director of the Penn Museum. “The M2A project will provide much-needed baseline information on collecting practices that will serve as a future guide to help these museums approach the cultural heritage in their care in a more ethical manner.”

The Penn Museum found itself at the center of much debate over collecting practices and management in 2021. In the spring of that year, the museum recommended the repatriation and reburial of more than 1,000 human skulls in its collection. Later that year, an independent report condemned the University of Pennsylvania, the museum and two of its anthropologists for “extremely poor judgment and gross insensitivity” in handling the human remains of bombing victims. police bombing and subsequent fire in Philadelphia in 1985.