Cherkea Howery

This space has been created in preparation for circulating a survey for research for my Master of Arts thesis for the Program in Museum Studies at NYU.

This blog will act as a primary hub for discussion about cultural heritage issues and antiquities housed in Unites States Art Museums.

I am interested in finding out what people know about this subject and where they received this information. My survey, "Informing Audiences: Public Perceptions of Illicit Antiquities in Art Museums" will be available June through July 2009. I will be analyzing the results in August and will publish a general, narrative report on this blog at a later date.

Please take the time to help a graduate student learn about what YOU think!

There is no doubt that people take interest in the physical remains of the ancient past. This is represented in museum exhibitions, media articles, movies, and career opportunities. Recently, professional museum organizations have revised their policies to take into account the 1970 UNESCO Convention . A long overdue measure when it comes to protecting archaeological sites from looting. These measures, taken by the American Association of Museums (AAM) and the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), were reviewed at the annual AAM Conference hosted in Philadelphia in 2009. In the session entitled, “Antiquities and Provenance: New Guidance,” speakers, Erik Ledbetter, Dan Monroe, and Martin Sullivan, reviewed the new guidelines adopted by each organization.

If you are interested, please feel free to review them yourself through the following links.
AAM (approved July 2008): Standards Regarding Archaeological Material and Ancient Art
AAMD (revised 2008): Report on the Acquisition of Archaeological Materials and Ancient Art