Elizabeth Marlowe of Colgate University sees that tens—maybe hundreds—of thousands of antiquities already in private hands face an uncertain future.
Unable to donate them to a museum, what options do collectors have to ensure the long-term care of their holdings? Some are returning to market; others are simply stashing an unwanted family collection in the attic or even taking it out with the trash.
In her view, the best stewards for these privately held collections are university museums openly committed to provenance research, repatriation, and public education about cultural heritage and museum ethics.
As part of donation agreements with private collectors, such museums could agree to make the objects the focus of courses centred on provenance research and related issues.
A key goal of the research would be to trace as complete an ownership history as possible and identify the most likely country of origin for all the objects.
Once that is established, the institution would initiate contact with appropriate cultural officials, rather than wait for source countries to make a claim, as is more commonly the case.
