It is certainly a bad idea--usually--to permit museum staff members or
governing officials to decorate their homes with objects from museum collections.  I
don't know that I would consider it an ethical issue per se, but it obviously
can compromise security.  Museums need to have registrarial and security
policies firmly in place to resist such requests and protect them from the
pressure to make loans to individuals.  In fact, that's probably the easiest way to
cast it: a rule that says your institution loans collection objects only to
other, approved museums who have policies and procedures similar to your own and
who can be depended upon to care for loaned items as rigorously as they would
handle their own collection objects--if not more so--and not to individuals,
whoever they are.  Exceptions might be made for short-term loans for specific
purposes--e.g., to private conservators performing conservation services, etc.
Upon occasion I have borrowed photographic negatives from our collection in
order to make exhibition prints in my home darkroom.  In each case the loan was
official and for a specified period, such as a week or two, in order for me
to accomplish the work.  I wouldn't dream of borrowing a collection item for
home decoration, due to inadequate security.  And how does the museum recover
objects loaned to individuals' homes if something happens to the borrower?

Decorating offices is a somewhat different matter.  I see nothing ethically
wrong with a museum staff member displaying collection objects in an office,
either as decoration, conversation pieces, or to impress visitors, provided
security is adequate.  Perhaps such display can be construed as enhancing the
staff member's position, but it can also be considered a way to enhance the
museum's prestige by showing additional objects which would otherwise be in storage,
albeit to a small, select audience.  I think the primary consideration would
be security.  Office spaces in our museum normally do not have the same level
of security as either exhibition spaces or collection storage areas.  When I
first began working in our museum it was common for curators to have collection
objects in their offices, including furniture from decorative arts
collections, but that practice seems to have been discouraged over the years.  My former
boss used to keep small collection items in a locked drawer of his desk to
show visitors; the security issue was sort of a toss-up, as he had made special
arrangements to ensure that custodial personnel did not have access to his
office, but it was not under an alarm; on the other hand, the collection storage
units were not uniformly under lock and key.  I made a point (without his
knowledge!) of recording the location of the objects in his desk.  Both his rather
casual borrowing of the objects from storage and my recording their location
in his desk were surreptitious, which is what was wrong with that scenario;
not every curator had an assistant to document such procedural lapses.  I think
the casual attitude toward these office "loans" represented the ethical
breach, not the borrowing or office display itself.

I have collection objects on display in my office, but my unit's offices are
adjacent to collection storage, and the entire complex has a uniform level of
security throughout; this is not true of most offices in the museum.
Administrators and governing officials normally cannot provide adequate museum-level
security for their offices, and the museum needs to have policies and tight
registrarial control to enable them to politely refuse requests for office loans.

Frankly, if the office environment of a museum staff member, administrator,
or other official affiliated with the museum can provide adequate security and
can be subject to inspection by registrarial and conservation staff, I see
nothing ethically wrong with such a loan.  In most cases, though, this would be
unusual.  The museum should be able to apply the same standards which govern
loans to other institutions.

David Haberstich

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