The San Antonio Museum of Art recently announced the acquisition of two sizable collections of pre-Columbian objects (ceramic and stone figures and vessels, in large measure) to augment its Art of the Americas collection. The gift came from two local families that have long ties with San Antonio cultural institutions and even longer histories of purchasing these types of items.

We could just stop there—because that is good news. However, older objects, particularly antiquities and archaeological or ethnographic items, increasingly have been the subject of claims and lawsuits by foreign governments and Native American tribes demanding pieces be returned to them, particularly those they assert were taken via looting, art and antiquities theft or just without permission. Are the 300 pre-Columbian objects recently accessioned by the San Antonio Museum of Art in these two collections a boon… or a headache waiting to happen?

A quick look finds instances of recent repatriation by the Cleveland Museum of Art (a bust of Marcus Aurelius), Walter P. Chrysler Museum (stolen statue “Wounded Indian”), Beltrami County Historical Society (Native American artifacts), Smithsonian Museum of Natural History (Native American human remains), Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (forty-four artifacts returned to Egypt, Italy and Turkey), Emory University’s Carlos Museum (antiquities returned to Italy), Metropolitan Museum of Art (sculptures returned to Cambodia and Nepal), Princeton University Art Museum (eleven artifacts returned to Italy) and Worcester Art Museum (bust of Marcus Aurelius’ daughter). The list is longer, but you get the idea.

Acquiring older cultural objects through purchase or donation can be risky for museums if they suspect the art or artifacts might have to be returned to a foreign government at some point. “There is reputational harm if you have to repatriate something,” Patty Gerstenblith, director of the Center for Art, Museum and Cultural Heritage Law at DePaul University in Chicago, told Observer. “It looks bad for the institutions involved,” as it suggests curators “just wanted things and didn’t care or look closely at how these objects came their way.” Museums don’t end up in legal jeopardy—no one goes to jail—but these institutions are in the business of acquiring pieces, not giving them away, and losing objects is viewed in the field as a catastrophe.

SEE ALSO: The Year in Museums – Controversy, Repatriation and More

Lowering the risk of a bad outcome requires museums to undertake extensive research and analysis of proposed accessions, and the process of accepting the two collections at SAMA lasted two full years, according to Emily Neff, director of the........

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