A Legal Primer on Managing Museum Collections

A new edition of the bible of U.S. collections management—now updated for the 21st-century museum professional or Museum Studies student!

This is the only comprehensive discussion of the legal questions faced by museums as they acquire, use, and refine their collections.

This fully revised and expanded fourth edition addresses a thorough range of legal developments museums face, including new developments in the digital age and under new repatriation regulations. This approachable, easy-to-follow guide provides:

• Major updates on deaccessioning and copyright and fair use
• New chapters on ethical returns and shared stewardship 

• Real-life and hypothetical lawsuit case studies
• Samples from museum collection policies 
• Templates to help with document writing
• Suggestions for preventing legal problems
• Footnotes with more indepth discussion of relevant cases

The book covers a wide range of issues, including nonprofit status, fraud, copyright, loans, documentation, accessioning and deaccessioning, international exhibitions, and cultural heritage concerns. The authorative A Legal Primer on Managing Museum Collections offers detailed explanations of the law that make it a go-to book for any museum professional.

MARIE C. MALARO (1933-2018) was an attorney, legal advisor to the Smithsonian Institution, and director of the graduate program in museum studies at George Washington University. She was also the author of Museum Governance: Mission, Ethics, Policy. ILDIKO DEANGELIS was an attorney, former assistant general counsel at the Smithsonian Institution, and former director of George Washington University's museum studies program. The SMITHSONIAN'S OFFICE OF GENERAL COUNSEL provides legal advice and counsel to the Board of Regents, Secretary, and other Smithsonian staff on various issues including the legal nature and administration of the Institution, intellectual property, employment, collections management, contracts, ethics, tax, tort claims, and more.