Stolen, smuggled, sold On the hunt for cultural treasures

Moses, author of Lost in the Museum: Hidden Treasures and the Stories They Tell (2008), considers the provenance of seven cultural treasures including Klimt's Portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer I (the subject of the film, Woman in Gold), a ceremonial Ghost Dance shirt from a victim of the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee, the mummy of Rameses I, and a typed manuscript of Pearl Buck's The Good Earth. She reflects on the ethical issues that arose when these objects with institutional pedigrees . . . were removed in some way, legal or not. The stories of these objects range from the dramatic to the heartbreaking to the venal (one is an account of the theft of historical audio discs by an official at the National Archives). In the final chapter, Moses reflects on the moral and legal questions of, in her words, who owns and who should own the world's cultural treasures. Museum goers may never look at an exhibit in quite the same way after reading this impassioned and engaging work.--Mulac, Carolyn Copyright 2015 Booklist

Museum/cultural consultant Moses's new work on a similar subject to that of her previous book (Lost in the Museum) is a riveting look at the backstory of what's in the display cases at your local museum. The author profiles seven historic objects with checkered pasts-Gustav Klimt's Adele Bloch-Bauer, which inspired the movie Woman in Gold; a Pearl S. Buck manuscript; a Lakota Ghost Dance shirt; a digital copy of an old radio interview; a naked mummy; and North Carolina's copy of the Bill of Rights-and how they were recovered by original owners or cultural stewards. The author's discussion of the complexity of the cases and ethics involved is thorough and her point clear: what was once viewed as rightful ownership by collectors and institutions is now, through a culturally sensitive lens, viewed as theft. VERDICT Recommended for art and history lovers, museumgoers, and those interested in collecting historical objects and art.-Amelia Osterud, Carroll Univ. Lib., Waukesha, WI © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.