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Mark

We have encountered this in Dublin and although in a slightly different legal framework, most of our relevant legislation and museum ethics would align with what operates in the UK. The key issue as I see it is what level of absolute evidence you expect from a ‘elephant tusk in the attic’ type offer from a member of the public. You also need to consider the alternatives. For me, dropping into a bin is not much of an option. In cases where we encounter objects that may or may not be legally held we have a duty to resolve the matter.

In Ireland the alternative to the museum accepting an offer of an old (presumed pre-CITES) elephant tusk, would be to advise our wildlife service (who manage CITES licensing) and seek to get the object certified, based on the ability of the current owner to outline a convincing back story – e.g. “my grandad lived in Africa in the 1940s” or “I played with it as a child in the 1960s”. That allows an official to accredit the object based on CITES coming into force on 1 July 1975 (and ratified later by various countries, 182 of which have now done so on a voluntary basis). The alternative is for the wildlife ranger to confiscate it as uncertified and dispose of it or offer it to us (we have a number of acquisitions through this route or as customs seizures). Getting a specimen certified can be an extra layer of bureaucracy that the donor would be happy without, but it can be assisted by the curator with some helpful phone calls.

You also need to decide how much evidence you are prepared to accept. “6.3.3 Obtain documentary evidence that all items have been collected legally, without infringing either the national laws in countries of origin or international regulations such as CITES (see appendix G). Do not acquire if this evidence is not provided.” This does not indicate that a CITES permit is the level evidence required if an affidavit as to presumed origin is acceptable to the museum (and should be written into your acquisition policy). There has to be a sensible difference between someone with a convincing historical account offering something free to a museum, and someone swearing to you that the fresh piece of taxidermy offered for sale is legally sourced. Legally this level of proof is the difference between ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ for criminal law, and the ‘balance of probability’ accepted in civil disputes.

On a related ethical issue it would be interesting to hear views on what approach museums in the NatSCA sphere of influence would take to offers of legally acquired hunting trophies. I expect to see increasing numbers of hunters divesting themselves of trophies that are becoming an embarrassment as social media has been pushing legal but questionable hunting into the ‘unacceptable behaviour’ zone.

Nigel

Mr Nigel T. Monaghan,
Keeper,
Natural History Division,
National Museum of Ireland – Natural History,
Merrion Street,
Dublin D02 F627,
IRELAND

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From: The Natural Science Collections Association discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mark Carnall
Sent: 02 August 2016 11:24
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Difficult Donations, Ethics and Legislation

Dear All,

Sorry for the long email and for revisiting a topic that we keep coming back to as a community but I’ve received a run of donation requests, as we all do, which end up with an unsatisfactory outcome which leaves potential donors with no real course of action. I was wondering what the hivemind’s thoughts were, if there was any insight into this from the last natural history museums and the law workshop and whether we could come up with a toolkit or sector response as to how we deal with these instances.

Recently, I’ve received offers of material for the museum which are for material in people’s possession where the provenance and history are vague. I’m sure we’re all familiar with these. Specimens inherited by people, found in attic clearances and the new owners want to put them to use rather than throw them away. With reference to codes of ethics it’s clear that museums should not take on material where there are any question marks over the circumstance of collection, import etc. The most recent Museums Association code of ethics is less specific than older versions on this than previous versions e.g. the 2nd edition of the 2004 code of ethics:

6.3.3 Obtain documentary evidence that all items have been collected legally, without infringing either the national laws in countries of origin or international regulations such as CITES (see appendix G). Do not acquire if this evidence is not provided.

With reference to legislation, which tend to be less strict than ethical codes, it’s also clear that acquisition with fuzzy or missing information is clearly a risk. In the instances I’ve received recently, we cannot acquire this material because there isn’t enough information to satisfy legal and ethical responsibilities and therefore our collection development policy and in theory, every accredited museum’s policies. To be clear, I’m not talking about instances where the action would be to suggest donating to other museums or organisations. However, what I am struggling with at the moment is the response to give to individuals wanting to donate material. I reached out to APHA for guidance on what to suggest to donors beyond, we can’t take this specimen into the collection without further (unobtainable information) and the response was very clearly, do not make any recommendations on the disposal of problematic material in individual’s possession. This makes for difficult correspondence with individuals who have reached out to the museum for help with no suggestion with what they should do with specimens which are in most instances fine to own as an individual but impossible to dispose of beyond throwing them in the bin. Or are problematic when crossing country/political borders or are just perpetually bequeathed to family members.

In short, what do others say or suggest in these instances?

I’m also interested in developing a UK specific key to follow, in essence covering some of the aspects I mention in my blog post about subject specialist knowledge<https://fistfulofcinctans.wordpress.com/2015/11/06/subject-specialist-knowledge/>, to make due diligence easier when contemplating acquisitions for specialists and non-specialists and raising awareness of some of the overlooked questions we need to ask when it comes to acquisition (e.g. landowner’s permission to collect, importance of ownership over accessioned or not, presumption in law that animals are wild caught, beach combing etc.).

I don’t know if some of these resources exist but I’ve not found an easy to use, comprehensive reference that doesn’t require more than a basic familiarity with local, national, European and International law. Perhaps this is something that NatSCA could develop?

Kind regards

Mark Carnall

Collections Manager (Life Collections)
Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PW
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