The National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C. Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution.

The National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C. Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution

Under the finalized policy, which went into effect across the Smithsonian’s 19 museums on April 29, museum objects found to have been looted, taken under duress, or otherwise unethically sourced are eligible for return to their country of origin. (Previously, the Institution did not call for artifacts to be deaccessioned, so long as the objects entered the Smithsonian’s collections legally.)

“There is a growing understanding at the Smithsonian and in the world of museums generally that our possession of these collections carries with it certain ethical obligations to the places and people where the collections originated,” Smithsonian secretary Lonnie Bunch said in a statement upon the implementation of the new policy this year. “Among these obligations is to consider, using our contemporary moral norms, what should be in our collections and what should not.” 

“This new policy on ethical returns,” he added, “is an expression of our commitment to meet these obligations.”

In most cases, individual Smithsonian museums can instigate restitution processes independently, based on ethical, rather than strictly legal, considerations. However, in the case of artifacts that “are of significant monetary value, research or historical value, or when the deaccession might create significant public interest,” board approval is required, according to the policy.

Notably, the Benin bronzes, which for many have come to symbolize the larger cultural debate about restituting colonial-era artifacts, check all of those boxes.