ABSTRACT
At the end of May 2008, the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) released its “New Report on Acquisition of Archaeological Materials and Ancient Art.” Dan L. Monroe, Executive Director of the Peabody and Essex Museum, in Salem, Massachusetts, chaired the committee of AAMD tasked with producing the report. In developing the report, the AAMD took on some of the most sensitive, high profile, divisive, and legally complex issues facing museums at the time. The acquisition of archaeological material and ancient art presents a long-standing conundrum for museums. The desire to own amazing items, to boost membership, financial support, and scholarly standing, is pitted against the ethical and legal issues of sustaining a trade in items, which may encourage an illicit market. Praise for the action of AAMD has come from all sectors of the cultural property arena, including those most concerned with protecting archaeological sites.
