http://museum-security.org/
securma@xs4all.nl
SITE MAP

November 22, 1989

CONTENTS:

- re: "Focus on Security" (David Liston)
- WW/Holocaust Stolen Art (Part II. Stolen Art Lists; Jonathan Sazonoff)
- ABORIGINES MOURN THEFT OF RARE ROCK CARVING

From: "David Liston" Listond@ic.si.edu
Subject:

re: "Focus on Security" (David Liston)

This answers a question from the Morris Museum of Art: "Focus on Security--The Magazine of Library, Archive and Museum Security" is worth your institution's USD70 when you want practical application information for those responsible for security. Email contact to jmgustafson@turbonet.com Judge for yourself by the tables of contents for the last two volumes:
Vol. 5, No. 4, July 1998 contains major articles of:
* "Museums in Crisis: Lessons Learned from the L.A. Riots" 10 pp and * "American Association of Museums: 93rd Annual Meeting and Expo 98" 6 pp as well as -editorial on library thief Danile -Spiegelman's sentence; notice of stolen rare book by Ptolemy recovered in London;
-Judge Robert H Hobgood is Presented the Burke Award (for sentencing a library thief); -Items still missing from Columbia University Library;
-Library vandalism suspect arrested; -in memoriam - James Banks Asst Chief of Security, US National Gallery of Art; - Alert All Announcement; - Interpol reports; - Calendar of events

Vol. 6, No. 1, October 1998 contains major articles of:
* "LAMA" Security Session Report-"Who's Minding the Store? Insider
Theft in Libraries" American Library Association-Library
Administration and Management Association ALA-LAMA, 6 pp, * "A
Workshop on Reading Room Security" 5 pp, and * "Volunteer Security
Assistance Program" 5pp. as well as -editorial on "What is about
Libraries - Revisited - on Internet in Libraries; -Rare diary Left in
cab; -Damage to African libraries; -Books stolen from the British
Institute of Florence; -Theft from the Harry Ransom Humanities
Research Center; -Combined International and US March 1999 Protection
and Security Conference for Museums, Libraries, Gardens and Other
Cultural Properties in Los Angeles; -Calendar of events; and -Interpol
Report.

From: Jonathan Sazonoff saz@kwom.com
Subject:

WW/Holocaust Stolen Art (Part II. Stolen Art Lists)

Dear Subscribers,
WWII brought about the greatest plunder of property this century. Some estimate 300,000 art works still unaccounted for. To provide a context, prior to the Washington Conference on Holocaust Assets (Nov 30- Dec 3)http://www.state.gov/www/regions/eur/wash_conf.html , we offer the second of three postings of webs resources devoted to this broad subject.
We hope you find this information useful.
SAZ PRODUCTION'S, INC.
www.saztv.com

Part II. Stolen Art Lists

There have been several recent finds to assist researchers. The UK's Victoria & Albert Museum has uncovered the Fischer list - 10,000 works of art from the Goering collection. France will soon put the lost Schloss collection (171 Dutch and Flemish paintings) on line. The World Jewish Congress has also uncovered a WWII intelligence (OSS) document listing 2,000 collectors and dealers who handled the Nazi's confiscated art
As for web sites, these provide specific listings of missing WWII art works:
Italy: Commissione Interministeriale per le Opere d'Arte
http://cam07a.sta.uniroma1.it/comin/ingle/indice0.html

Germany: Such-Index: Beutekunst (search)
http://www.dhh-3.de/cgi-bin/v_beute

France: Catalogue des MNR (search)
http://www.culture.fr/cgi-bin/wave.cgi?dqi=mnrbis&icon=/documentation/icones

Archives, bibliographies, and related material:
Archives: Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments rg239.txt
http://gopher.nara.gov:70/0/inform/guide/200s/rg239.txt

Archival Material on National Socialit Art Plundering WWII
http://dig.dhh-3.de/biblio/bremen/sow1/archmat.html

Vera Frenkal's combined reading list
http://www.yorku.ca/BodyMissing/beyond/beyond_ind.html

Beutekunst Bibliographie Zeitungsartikel Jg.1994
http://www.ib.hu-berlin.de/~pbruhn/zt1994.htm

Hitler's Capital by James S. Plaut
http://www.theatlantic.com/trans.atl/unbound/flashbks/nazigold/hitler.htm

Loot for the Master Race by James S. Plaut
http://www.theatlantic.com/atlantic/unbound/flashbks/nazigold/loot.htm

Still to come. Part III. Restitution Efforts




From: Jonathan Sazonoff saz@kwom.com
Subject:

ABORIGINES MOURN THEFT OF RARE ROCK CARVING

Australian Current Law News
Wednesday 18 November 1998
VIC: ABORIGINES MOURN THEFT OF RARE ROCK CARVING MELBOURNE, Nov 17 AAP -
Thieves have stolen a unique Aboriginal rock carving believed to be up to 3000 years old from a remote site on Tasmanias north-west coast. The theft of the 45cm artwork from the secret site last week in what appears to have been a carefully planned operation has dismayed the Tasmanian Aboriginal community. But art experts say the thieves would have great trouble trying to sell it. The carving, or petroglyph, was between 2000 and 3000 years old and was chiselled whole out of a rock face in an isolated traditional Aboriginal site on Tasmanias north-west coast. Legal manager of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, Michael Mansell, said local Aborigines were "absolutely dismayed" by the desecration. "The carving is our most direct link to the souls of our ancestors," Mr Mansell said. "It represents the whole soul of the people who created it. We cannot reproduce that now. It has gone." The theft was identified by a Parks and Wildlife Department ranger last week. Director of the department, Max Kitchell, said it seemed the thieves knew what they were doing and had taken some care to remove the artwork intact. "It was quite a feat which would have taken quite some time to do," Mr Kitchell said. The location of the carvings was not widely known and Mr Kitchell said it was unlikely the thieves had happened upon it. Police have no leads. "It is one of the most important Aboriginal features in Tasmania and indeed Australia," Mr Kitchell said. "It is quite unique." The carving, comprising concentric circles, was once part of a series of artworks that covered many kilometres of the north-west coast, Mr Mansell said. This art comprised the totems of the areas inhabitants, the boundaries of their land, their corroboree and camping grounds and the walking tracks between them. Southern Aborigines visiting the area to collect mutton bird eggs would read the art to understand who owned the land and their own obligations in return for travelling across it. "It was not just nice art: this is the only cultural form which tells us about the heart and soul of our ancestors," Mr Mansell said. "It was the original dreaming of the people in the area." Mr Mansell said it appeared to be an organised theft rather than racist vandalism. This was in some ways of more concern, as it suggested the thieves had found a market for the artwork. But art dealers today said the thieves would have trouble selling the rare piece. "It is illegal to sell it in Australia: illegal to export it out of Australia. These things have no real value at all in terms of their saleability," Tim Klingender, director of Aboriginal art for Sothebys Australia, said. The black market for artwork would be "infinitesimal" in Australia, and even collectors of ethnographic art overseas would not be interested in petroglyphs which were generally of limited aesthetic appeal, he said. Mr Klingender said the petroglyph (Greek for rock carving) should be listed with local and federal police, Interpol and the International Foundation for Art Research in New York, making it almost impossible to sell.
AAP pjb/er/bjm


Main Indexpage