Just another thought on this from a possibly useful perspective. I am a
museum person, but in a previous incarnation was the director of a large
rape crisis center.
I really don't know what to do with the slides, but I strongly recommend
that you contact a rape crisis center to talk with them about the ethical
issues involved. They are bound to confidentiality except in cases of
underage children (which these subjects no longer are). If you don't know
the name and phone number of your local center, call RAINN, the national
hotline, at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). They can connect you to your local
center.
A rape crisis will be able to give you are good sense of what some options
might be in relation to the women who this man photographed. I am certain
that they have dealt with the thorny issues involved in this before.
I suppose one of the most difficult problems is what right the women have to
control those images. In sexual assault and abuse work, the general rule is
that the victim should have maximum control over any decisions. In this
case, of course, the stuff is in a museum, which makes it mighty hard to
know what to do. Should the slides be deaccessioned and given to the women
if they want them? Should a woman have a say in how the museum uses the
image of her? Should the women be contacted and told about the existence of
these slides, perhaps through the rape crisis center?
Another thing to keep in mind is the museum's mission, especially its
educational mission, its children's programs and its responsibility to the
community. We museums are nothing without our fealty to our mission and our
credibility. In reality, other people's interpretation of our mission and
credibility make it a two-edged sword. On the one hand, how will your
community feel about the museum having in its collection pictures of its
citizens being sexually abused when they were children? On the other hand,
how will it feel about the museum having evidence that a respected citizen
abused them? I know, the man doesn't deserve that respect, but some folks
will hold that view.
Good luck.
_______________________
Farar Elliott
-----Original Message-----
From: Bethany S. Rutledge [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Saturday, August 21, 2004 6:44 PM
Subject: Dilemma
I've recently begun numbering and cataloguing a collection of slides that
was only partially processed when first aquired by my organization in 1983.
There are some 18,000 slides in the collection - images of regional
landscapes, flora, fauna, architecture. Almost all of the photographs were
taken by a single man. He was a local resident who retired from the Coast
Guard to a career in marine biology. He worked fairly closely with schools
in the area presenting slide shows on scientific subjects, organizing field
trips... seems to have had a wide circle of friends and to have been well-
respected in this community.
The dilemma? I came across two trays - probably 70-80 slides - today that
jump out at me as pedophilia. Photo after photo of little girls posed in...
well, compromising positions. At first I thought I must be imagining
things, but it became apparent pretty quickly that there was a pattern. I
won't go into too many details. He did make one or two notations that seem
to confirm my suspicions. What in the world am I going to do with these
slides?
What kinds of legal, ethical, and historical responsibilities do we need to
consider? I'm going to share these with my boss on Tuesday so she can make
whatever decisions need to be made, but I'd just like to have some
suggestions handy. Oh, I should mention that the photographer died 20 years
ago. The pictures were taken during the 1960s and early '70s and are all
labeled with the first and last name of the subject.
Any Advice All-Knowing Museumites?
Bethany S. Rutledge
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