National Museums Scotland must heed Tasmanian repatriation plea
One would have hoped that in our "enlightened" times, museums in the UK, given the country's imperial heritage, would be highly sensitive and sympathetic towards indigenous peoples in the lands that came under British control.
And, to be fair, when faced with a request for the repatriation of human, notably skeletal, material to the lands and peoples from which they were taken during the colonial era (such as Australia), most museums in recent times have done the right thing - including the Natural History Museum in London this year.
It is therefore slightly puzzling that National Museums Scotland is proving dilatory in responding to yet another request from the Tasmanian Aboriginal community for the return of a skull belonging to their people, currently held in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.
There surely must be a recognition among the trustees of the museum that it would be unacceptable to the Tasmanian Aboriginal community for further invasive research to be conducted on this material and that the only conceivable outcome to the dispute is its repatriation.
All the better, therefore, that this process be expedited, ensuring as little damage as possible to Scotland's reputation in general, and that of its national museum service in particular.
The Aboriginal people of Tasmania suffered enormously during the British colonial era. They were cleared off their ancestral lands and sent to institutions that were effectively concentration camps. Many were massacred. Even in death they were maltreated.
Much of the Aboriginal skeletal material sent out of Tasmania in the 19th century to overseas institutions was probably obtained as a result of grave-robbing. And there is documented evidence of parts of bodies, such as skulls, being removed from newly deceased Aboriginal corpses for "scientific" purposes, when the body was hardly even cold.
Would that material be collected today in such circumstances, and be held in museums in the UK? Of course not. We live in more enlightened times. But are we enlightened enough to correct a historical injustice? Trustees of the National Museums Scotland - it's over to you. Please don't delay.
Roddy Maclean, Inverness
Map reference
Congratulations on the new-look Museums Journal. It's excellent. However, I'm really writing in response to Vicky Brightman's comment (Museums Journal October 2007, p59) about the Court Barn Museum that "the journey to Chipping Campden is not an easy one".
From where I live the journey to Chipping Campden couldn't be simpler. You just drive down the Fosse Way and turn right when you see the sign. What she means, of course, is that it isn't easy to get there from London. Those of us who live outside the capital get used to this London-centric view, but I don't expect to see it in Museums Journal.
Bob Rutland (retired), Leicester
Museums and morality
I read Will Hutton's comment on museums and their obligations to their public (Museums Journal October 2007, p23) with great interest.
Hutton boldly puts the question "what do publicly funded institutions do" to respond to the needs and expectations of their public. Hutton himself offers some pertinent answers in this excellent article, claiming very persuasively that, to respond to the desire for active participation, museums have to become more aware of citizens' ability to participate in the decisions over the use of their resources.
A few years ago Anthony Mason, a former chief justice of the Australian high court, delivered a lecture on the ethical dilemmas for charities in which he examined another serious obligation of the museums as charities:
"As charities depend for their continued existence on public support… they can ill-afford to ignore the pressures of moral claims. A failure on their part to recognise their moral obligations would contradict the very basis on which their existence depends and would tend to undermine the goodwill which is the foundation of their public support.
"Likewise charities can ill-afford to oppose moral claims by justifying their retention of cultural works and objects on grounds which are unsustainable or lacking in persuasion."
In today's international cultural climate this moral obligation has now become urgent.
Eleni Cubitt, British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, London
Lerwick: global gateway
I thoroughly enjoyed your article Northern Exposure about the Shetland Museum and Archives (Museums Journal August 2007, p40). I have fond memories of my trip to Shetland several years ago, and am very glad to hear that local history is being preserved and displayed locally instead of down south, and to such a high standard as well.
In terms of Shetland outside the walls of the museum, however, I must disagree with Sharon Heal's description of the local architectural features that "blight the island" - I found Shetland and Lerwick's architecture to be charming, practical and authentic.
Furthermore, I was amazed to hear so many languages spoken on the streets of Lerwick, such as Russian and Norwegian. I hadn't realised what an international crossroads the town was. This must make for some interesting displays and collections in the new museum.
Judging by her description, the Shetland Museum and Archives is one of those institutions that sets an example for others by its interpretive design. I look forward to visiting on my next trip to the islands.
Shannon Klatt, staff officer of Canadian Forces Museums and Historical Collections, Canada
Crime and poverty
Javier Pes questions why social history curators automatically link crime and poverty (Museums Journal September 2007, p42). The historic record says they are right to do so. What one might define as "white-collar" crime is, and long has been, negligible compared to crimes linked to poverty.
More thought-provoking perhaps is why this is the case. My own view is that a number of factors conspire to make it thus, but perhaps most the troubling is how far activities that may be contingent on the state of poverty have been criminalised.
Paul Brough, historic collections manager, Cornwall
Interview woes
I would like to raise what might seem like a small issue to some but it is very important to me at present. I am coming to the end of a maternity cover contract and am applying for jobs. Given the fierce competition for jobs in our sector I have been to more than one interview and have unfortunately been unsuccessful. But I take this as part of price for the career I have chosen.
My issue lies with the amount of time it takes to refund expenses. I was lucky enough to have two interviews a week two weeks apart and a month later had still not received my expenses. All the interviews involved much train travel and my bill ran into the hundreds of pounds.
We all know what the wages are like in our chosen sector, so my question is how can I be expected not only to lay out these costs in the first place (which is hard enough) but then be expected to wait four to six weeks for my money back?
I suggest some compassion is called for: I would like to see either a refund on the day of interview (ambitious I know) or at the very most two weeks later. As it stands I am practically bankrupt.
Dora Parr, curator, Wycombe Museum
Correction
The photograph of the team that won the 2007 Rolls Royce science prize (Museums Journal October 2007, p80) should have read: Lord May of Oxford, keynote speaker, (centre), Patricia Francis, curator of Botany at the Bolton Museum, (third right) and Tim Smit from the Eden Project (far right), who presented the awards, with the winning team.
Write to: the editor, Museums Journal, 24 Calvin Street, London E1 6NW
email: journal@museumsassociation.org
One would have hoped that in our "enlightened" times, museums in the UK, given the country's imperial heritage, would be highly sensitive and sympathetic towards indigenous peoples in the lands that came under British control.
And, to be fair, when faced with a request for the repatriation of human, notably skeletal, material to the lands and peoples from which they were taken during the colonial era (such as Australia), most museums in recent times have done the right thing - including the Natural History Museum in London this year.
It is therefore slightly puzzling that National Museums Scotland is proving dilatory in responding to yet another request from the Tasmanian Aboriginal community for the return of a skull belonging to their people, currently held in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.
There surely must be a recognition among the trustees of the museum that it would be unacceptable to the Tasmanian Aboriginal community for further invasive research to be conducted on this material and that the only conceivable outcome to the dispute is its repatriation.
All the better, therefore, that this process be expedited, ensuring as little damage as possible to Scotland's reputation in general, and that of its national museum service in particular.
The Aboriginal people of Tasmania suffered enormously during the British colonial era. They were cleared off their ancestral lands and sent to institutions that were effectively concentration camps. Many were massacred. Even in death they were maltreated.
Much of the Aboriginal skeletal material sent out of Tasmania in the 19th century to overseas institutions was probably obtained as a result of grave-robbing. And there is documented evidence of parts of bodies, such as skulls, being removed from newly deceased Aboriginal corpses for "scientific" purposes, when the body was hardly even cold.
Would that material be collected today in such circumstances, and be held in museums in the UK? Of course not. We live in more enlightened times. But are we enlightened enough to correct a historical injustice? Trustees of the National Museums Scotland - it's over to you. Please don't delay.
Roddy Maclean, Inverness
Map reference
Congratulations on the new-look Museums Journal. It's excellent. However, I'm really writing in response to Vicky Brightman's comment (Museums Journal October 2007, p59) about the Court Barn Museum that "the journey to Chipping Campden is not an easy one".
From where I live the journey to Chipping Campden couldn't be simpler. You just drive down the Fosse Way and turn right when you see the sign. What she means, of course, is that it isn't easy to get there from London. Those of us who live outside the capital get used to this London-centric view, but I don't expect to see it in Museums Journal.
Bob Rutland (retired), Leicester
Museums and morality
I read Will Hutton's comment on museums and their obligations to their public (Museums Journal October 2007, p23) with great interest.
Hutton boldly puts the question "what do publicly funded institutions do" to respond to the needs and expectations of their public. Hutton himself offers some pertinent answers in this excellent article, claiming very persuasively that, to respond to the desire for active participation, museums have to become more aware of citizens' ability to participate in the decisions over the use of their resources.
A few years ago Anthony Mason, a former chief justice of the Australian high court, delivered a lecture on the ethical dilemmas for charities in which he examined another serious obligation of the museums as charities:
"As charities depend for their continued existence on public support… they can ill-afford to ignore the pressures of moral claims. A failure on their part to recognise their moral obligations would contradict the very basis on which their existence depends and would tend to undermine the goodwill which is the foundation of their public support.
"Likewise charities can ill-afford to oppose moral claims by justifying their retention of cultural works and objects on grounds which are unsustainable or lacking in persuasion."
In today's international cultural climate this moral obligation has now become urgent.
Eleni Cubitt, British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, London
Lerwick: global gateway
I thoroughly enjoyed your article Northern Exposure about the Shetland Museum and Archives (Museums Journal August 2007, p40). I have fond memories of my trip to Shetland several years ago, and am very glad to hear that local history is being preserved and displayed locally instead of down south, and to such a high standard as well.
In terms of Shetland outside the walls of the museum, however, I must disagree with Sharon Heal's description of the local architectural features that "blight the island" - I found Shetland and Lerwick's architecture to be charming, practical and authentic.
Furthermore, I was amazed to hear so many languages spoken on the streets of Lerwick, such as Russian and Norwegian. I hadn't realised what an international crossroads the town was. This must make for some interesting displays and collections in the new museum.
Judging by her description, the Shetland Museum and Archives is one of those institutions that sets an example for others by its interpretive design. I look forward to visiting on my next trip to the islands.
Shannon Klatt, staff officer of Canadian Forces Museums and Historical Collections, Canada
Crime and poverty
Javier Pes questions why social history curators automatically link crime and poverty (Museums Journal September 2007, p42). The historic record says they are right to do so. What one might define as "white-collar" crime is, and long has been, negligible compared to crimes linked to poverty.
More thought-provoking perhaps is why this is the case. My own view is that a number of factors conspire to make it thus, but perhaps most the troubling is how far activities that may be contingent on the state of poverty have been criminalised.
Paul Brough, historic collections manager, Cornwall
Interview woes
I would like to raise what might seem like a small issue to some but it is very important to me at present. I am coming to the end of a maternity cover contract and am applying for jobs. Given the fierce competition for jobs in our sector I have been to more than one interview and have unfortunately been unsuccessful. But I take this as part of price for the career I have chosen.
My issue lies with the amount of time it takes to refund expenses. I was lucky enough to have two interviews a week two weeks apart and a month later had still not received my expenses. All the interviews involved much train travel and my bill ran into the hundreds of pounds.
We all know what the wages are like in our chosen sector, so my question is how can I be expected not only to lay out these costs in the first place (which is hard enough) but then be expected to wait four to six weeks for my money back?
I suggest some compassion is called for: I would like to see either a refund on the day of interview (ambitious I know) or at the very most two weeks later. As it stands I am practically bankrupt.
Dora Parr, curator, Wycombe Museum
Correction
The photograph of the team that won the 2007 Rolls Royce science prize (Museums Journal October 2007, p80) should have read: Lord May of Oxford, keynote speaker, (centre), Patricia Francis, curator of Botany at the Bolton Museum, (third right) and Tim Smit from the Eden Project (far right), who presented the awards, with the winning team.
Write to: the editor, Museums Journal, 24 Calvin Street, London E1 6NW
email: journal@museumsassociation.org
