In a message dated 95-11-09 08:37:36 EST, [log in to unmask] (Randy
Posynick) writes:

>I am currently writing a short research paper on the ethics of a
>deaccessioning policy for culturally significant artifacts.  Is there
>anyone out there with a strong view on this topic?  Any specific book
>recommendations?  (The paper is for a class in Masters in Museum Studies
>program at John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, California.)
>
>
Marie Malaro at GWU tells a great story about when she was lecturing on the
importance of ethical deaccessioning that has always stuck with me. She was
young and nervous but firm in her convictions about not only what should and
should not be deaccessioned but how to do it. Suddenly a large man with a
cowboy hat stood up and said that he was the chief conservator at his museum
and when he was ready to deaccession something, he just dropped it on the
floor, crushed it with his foot and threw it away. Turned out, he was an
entomologist.

I would turn to Marie for recommendations and I would also check with AAM for
the latest update on the NAGPRA mass burial solution to deaccessioning. Good
luck.

- Adrienne