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30 IJCP 1 (2023)

handle is hein.journals/injculpy30 and id is 1 raw text is: International Journal of Cultural Property (2023), 30: 1-21 NIVCAMBRIDGE doi: UNIVERSITY PRESS ARTICLE American Museums and Colonial-Era Provenance: A Proposal Victoria S. Reed - Sadler Senior Curator for Provenance, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, United States Email: vreed(mfaor Abstract As European nations address their legacy of colonialism, many museums in France, Germany, Great Britain, and elsewhere in Western Europe are examining the provenance of objects in their collections that were removed during periods of colonial occupation and, in some cases, have developed plans for their restitution. As of2022, few museums in the United States have announced similar objectives. This article offers specific suggestions for American art museums to proceed proactively and transparently with colonial-era provenance research projects. I propose that museums identify objects in their collections that were displaced in one of two ways: either looted during a post-Napoleonic military conflict or stolen or traded by force under a period of colonial occupation. These works of art should be prioritized for provenance research and listed or otherwise made discoverable online. By listing these objects on their websites, museums will acknowledge the contentious histories of works of art in their collections and signal an openness to engaging with source communities, whether about the return of an object, loans, storage, display, educational initiatives, or other matters of care. Keywords: Provenance research; Restitution; Colonial-era provenance; Museums; Repatriation As European nations address their legacy of colonialism, museums in France, Germany, Great Britain, and elsewhere in Western Europe are examining the provenance of objects in their collections that were removed during periods of colonial occupation and, in some cases, have developed plans for their restitution.' As of 2022, few museums in the United 1 The French guidelines, discussed below, were commissioned by President Emmanuel Macron and issued in 2018 (Sarr and Savoy 2018). The German Museum Association issued guidelines in 2018 and revised them in 2019 and 2021 (Deutscher Museums Bund 2021). In 2020, a recommendation was made to the minister of education, culture, and science urging a Dutch national policy. Summary of Report to the Advisory Committee on the National Policy Framework for Colonial Contexts, 2020, SIn2021, a group of independent scholars and experts issued a report with recommendations for the Belgian government. Ethical Principles for the Management and Restitution of Colonial Collections in Belgium, 2021, Austria has also established a panel to consider colonial-era restitution. See Catherine Hickley, Austria Sets Up Expert Panel to Develop Guidelines for Repatriating Colonial Loot, The Art Newspaper, 21January 2022. In November 2021, France repatriated 26 works of art to the Republic of Benin. In July 2022, Germany and Nigeria signed an agreement finalizing plans to restitute art of the Benin Kingdom from German museums to Nigeria; Germany physically returned two objects and transferred ownership of over 1,000 more. In February 2022, two Benin bronzes from the University of Aberdeen (Scotland) and Jesus College (Cambridge, England) were formally restituted to Nigeria. Oxford and Cambridge universities have both pledged to return the Benin bronzes from their collections. In September 2022, it was reported that Tristram Hunt, director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, visited Ghana to create a partnership allowing the museum's Asante gold to be on display in Ghana in the coming years. © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the International Cultural Property Society.