Books: The Routledge Companion to Museum Ethics

The first half of this book is a passionate call for museums to make more of a difference to people and to communities. “Museums have... both the opportunities and the obligations... to contribute to the greater social good,” argues Richard Sandell, who supports “activist museum practice”.

After a few chapters specifically about ethics, the book looks broadly at museum purpose, values and responsibility. It mentions inspiring examples of museums that have changed their missions to make a greater contribution to society. The Science Museum of Minnesota “has become a place where policymakers come and do their work”.

Editor Janet Marstine puts it nicely: “Democratic pluralism, shared authority and social justice are distinct but convergent areas of policy and practice that together define the socially responsible museum.”

This chimes perfectly with the Museums Association’s (MA) focus on museum impacts in Museums 2020. And most Museums Journal readers will be comfortable with the book’s calls for inclusion, impact, participation, accountability and transparency.

Much of the book looks at the US experience, with some attention paid to the UK, Australia and New Zealand. As well as the social purpose of museums, it covers other subjects as diverse as post-colonialism and repatriation, sustainability, relationships between curators and learning staff, and the $64,000 question: whether “access for all” is now core to most museums, or a fragile, largely rhetorical add-on.

Changing ethics

The book’s Great Fear is that, at a time when museums are faced with cuts, work that promotes the common good will be abandoned in favour of seemingly safe and conventional approaches.

Perhaps some progressive museum work is fragile – but in places the book goes too far in setting up enemies. Some contributors characterise the museum and ethical norm as backward-looking, resisting change and prioritising collections.

And it makes some odd claims about what it calls the “authorised discourse” of museum ethics. In the UK it is simply wrong to say that “the traditional museum ethics discourse created to instil professional practice though a system of consensus… is unable to meet the needs of museums and society in the 21st century.”

The MA’s code of ethics firmly encourages socially responsible museums – and is a consensus document.

The guiding principle of the MA’s ethical work is that museums should always prioritise public benefit. The MA agrees that ethics are not only a constraint but support change and that ethics are central to good leadership, building public trust and organisational confidence.

Of course, what has been thought to be ethically appropriate at one time may not be at other times and practices need to be continually reassessed.

Recent meetings of the MA’s ethics committee have strongly advised a museum to return items to a community of origin; considered the ethics of using human material in public artworks; and recommended to a museum that it should consult more before making decisions.

Twenty years ago it may have been seen as the committee that likes to say “no”; but now, it is very different.

Selective reading

This book’s arguments are largely progressive, up to date and admirable. However, with its 27 essays over nearly 500 pages it is over-long. Contributions vary widely in style, from overviews, to polemic, to case studies, to academic argument. It’s not clear what or who it is for.

It is a useful compendium of recent thinking on socially responsible museum practice with contributions from leading thinkers. However, while it’s a handy way of catching up on the literature, I’m not convinced it actually says much that’s new.

Perhaps it is meant to be a work of reference that can be pulled from the shelf for guidance. That would be impossible with this book, not least because it has a very poor index. It’s also patchy with little on, for example, spoliated art, illicit trade or sponsorship. It also largely omits sale of collections, which have recently dominated the ethical enquiries received by the MA.

I firmly agree with many of the values it promotes. Reading it (selectively) could reinvigorate your belief in the potential of museums. But I fear I can’t recommend it as the definitive guide suggested by its title.

Maurice Davies is the head of policy and communication at the Museums Association.

Janet Marstine will be speaking at the Ethical Dilemmas session at the Museums Association annual conference, 8-9 November, Edinburgh.