The only way I could see an ethical conflict is if the museum knew that the
lender was going to be selling the collection on the open market soon, and
suspected that the show was being used as a way to inflate the perceived
value of the collection.

University museums are actually in a much safer position than public museums
in that regard--the interests that govern them are much narrower and have a
stronger consciousness of ethical conflicts, so tend to avoid them.

Julia Muney Moore
Director of Exhibitions and Artist Services
Indianapolis Art Center
820 E. 67th St.
Indianapolis, IN  46220
(317) 255-2464 x233
FAX (317) 254-0486
email <[log in to unmask]>
website <http://www.indplsartcenter.org>


-----Original Message-----
From: Nicolette Meister [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, December 20, 2002 1:30 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: A question of university museum ethics


Please excuse cross-postings,

An interesting questions about the ethics of exhibiting works of art owned
by individuals invested in a museum was recently raised during an exhibit
committee meeting: Despite the seemingly clear potential for conflict of
interest, is it unethical to exhibit works of art owned by trustees or
faculty associated with a college or university museum?

Does anybody have examples of museum policy that specifically deal with
this issue? If so, would you be willing to share? Also, does anybody know
of published references that deal with this issue? I've checked Malaro's
Legal Primer and didn't find anything directly relevant. All feedback is
welcome. Please feel free to contact me off-list.

Thank you in advance for your time,

Nicolette Meister


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nicolette B. Meister, Curator of Collections
Logan Museum of Anthropology
700 College Street
Beloit, WI 53511
(608) 363-2305
FAX (608) 363-2248
http://www.beloit.edu/~museum/
E-mail: [log in to unmask]

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