How to Return Stolen Art (Update)

Museums are purging their collections of looted treasures. Can they also get something in return? And what does it mean to be a museum in the 21st century? (Part 3 of an updated series (freakonomics.com/podcast-tag/stealing-art-is-e…) originally published in 2023.)

• SOURCES:

• Patricia Allan (linkedin.com/in/patricia-allan-52879031), museum consultant, former curator of world cultures for the Glasgow Museums.

• Andrea Bayer (metmuseum.org/press/news/2018/met-names-andrea…), deputy director for collections and administration at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

• Lonnie G. Bunch III (si.edu/about/bios/lonnie-g-bunch-III), Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

• Victor Ehikhamenor (victorehi.com), Nigerian writer and artist.

• Patty Gerstenblith (law.depaul.edu/faculty-and-staff/faculty-a-z/P…), professor emeritus of law at DePaul University College of Law.

• Tom Wilkening (tomwilkening.com), professor of economics at the University of Melbourne.

• RESOURCES:

• "After Seizures, the Met Sets a Plan to Scour Collections for Looted Art (nytimes.com/2023/05/09/arts/met-museum-looted-…)," by Robin Pogrebin and Graham Bowley (The New York Times, 2023).

• "Nigeria Benin Bronzes: Buhari Declaration 'Blindsides' Museum Officials (bbc.com/news/world-africa-65531736)," by Barnaby Phillips (B.B.C., 2023).

• "Shared Stewardship and Ethical Returns Policy (ncp.si.edu/sites/default/files/files/Ethical%2…)," by the Smithsonian Ethical Returns Working Group (2022).

• "Protecting Antiquities: A Role for Long-Term Leases? (tomwilkening.com/images/Antiquities_Kremer_Wil…)" by Michael Kremer and Tom Wilkening (Working Paper, 2015).

• EXTRAS:

• “Stealing Art Is Easy. Giving It Back Is Hard (freakonomics.com/podcast-tag/stealing-art-is-e…),” series by Freakonomics Radio (2023).

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