By Harper Johnson and Suzanna Neal
Museums in the United States, whether they be federally, state, or privately owned (including those run by universities), are ever-faced with claims that items in their care have incomplete or illicit provenance.[1] This is reflective of a broader trend among museums in the Western world, which are facing more frequent and stronger calls to repatriate works that were looted during colonial periods or were otherwise unethically obtained.[2]
This article will cover three recent stories of international repatriation from US museums, all prompted by different events. In early 2024, the Fowler Museum at the University of California, Los Angeles, voluntarily returned several objects from their collection following extensive provenance research. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts also returned several objects towards the end of 2023, but this repatriation followed an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit. Lastly, after one of their art dealers was convicted of running an antiquities trafficking network, the Metropolitan Museum of Art also returned several objects in December 2023.
Museum Initiated Repatriation at the Fowler Museum
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