Colleen Theisen
University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art became the first in the nation to return looted Benin bronzes to royal ruler.
#museums #archives #specialCollections #GLAM #repatriation #uiowa https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/07/18/iowa-museum-becomes-first-in-us-to-return-looted-benin-bronzes
Iowa museum becomes first in US to return looted Benin bronzes to royal ruler

The University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art has defended its decision to hand back two objects to the Oba

The Art Newspaper - International art news and events
Jul 18, 2024 at 9:03pmWeb
Show threadColleen TheisenJul 18, 2024
This is the result of a position researching provenance that they hired for in 2020.
Show threadRuth [☕️ 👩🏻‍💻📚✍🏻🧵🪡🍵]Jul 18, 2024
@libcolleen wow, I really appreciate—like it’s all good to say we value public access, but right now people are putting theft aside because of access. If we want to display them, we need to start by fixing our side.
Show threadAnne DeschaineJul 19, 2024
@platypus @libcolleen It is deeply refreshing to see a museum director state this outright.
Show threadPeter BurkholderJul 19, 2024
@aehdeschaine @platypus @libcolleen this is great! Other Benin Bronzes have been repatriated to the Nigerian govt, these are the first returned to the Oba (or so my wife, the historian of African Art, tells me)
Show threadDr. ApocalypseJul 19, 2024

@libcolleen Okay, excellent, because this is something that has bothered me for years and that I once wrote an angry email to the university about. but, while we're at it, could we return all the other looted things in the museum too?

I am never going to not be angry about the figurines that are meant to hold the souls of dead children, and we have like 50 of them, and there's no way we got them legitimately