The British Museum
Last time we checked on the British Museum, they were on their way to recovering nearly half of the Higgs theft. Almost seven hundred items have been identified, located, and returned nearly a year after the theft’s initial discovery. However, this does not mean it has been all good for the museum.
In recent years, the British Museum has almost always been embroiled in controversy, ranging from restitution cases to the institution’s environmental impact. Therefore, regarding public opinion, the British Museum was already in a slightly weakened state with a decent portion of the British and worldwide population when news of the Higgs theft rocked the museum world. Recent reports show that this disapproval may now be extending to museum donations. According to Max Kendix writing for The Times, individual contributions amounted to only £7.5 million this most recent fiscal year compared to the previous year’s £25 million. Furthermore, the museum administration has now admitted that the Higgs theft may have been enabled by museum staff and leadership violating British law.
Under the Public Records Act, the British Museum is considered a “place of deposit”, used for storage by the National Archives. According to the National Archives, these places of deposit must meet certain standards regarding the care and conservation of the items in question and public access to them. The National Archives adheres to the guidelines of both the British Standards Institution and the European Standards Organizations, which both publish guidelines on “the location, construction and arrangement of building specifically intended for internal storage of all heritage collection types and formats.” The museum’s most recent annual report states that the British Museum is not compliant with these standards following an internal audit. Museum chairman George Osborne said they are “continuing to work with the National Archives towards compliance”. The museum plans on achieving this by “scrutinising areas of perceived higher risk” and “concentrating on implementing agreed changes recommended by the Independent Review. These changes relate to collection management, security procedures and processes and governance.”
The Higgs theft exposed the many gaps and flaws in the British Museum’s security, which its leadership has either negligently allowed or even maliciously encouraged over the years. As a place of deposit under the Public Records Act, the British Museum can have a good chunk of its collection transferred to a different location. However, many commentators have deemed this unlikely. In the wake of the theft, the museum is working to completely digitize its entire collection, all eight million items, to prevent a theft like the one Higgs allegedly perpetrated from happening again. It’s sad that in such a trove of the world’s culture, heritage, and knowledge, it took the loss, damage, and destruction of thousands of items for substantial change to be realized.