AIC's 52nd Annual Meeting

For the last several years, the Fowler Museum at UCLA has pivoted attention and resources towards active engagement with members of the international communities represented in the museum’s collections. This has led to some repatriations, but also invaluable information about items that weren’t claimed. The Conservation Department of the Fowler Museum is at the forefront of several of these collaborations, generating conservation and other department processes for the deliberated items. Along with discussing developed protocols, this presentation focuses on three case studies: Maori, Australian Aboriginal and West Mexican communities and their items. Each one of these studies involved (and continues to undergo) distinct and surprising developments, with reasonable outcomes for all parties involved. NAGPRA related collections and regulations are briefly considered as a guide to developing international partnerships and agreements.