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] ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).