Technolandy

Day 164 (of 2025/26) on “it belongs in a museum” thinking…

I loved the line in Indiana Jones (Last Crusade) when he talks about the Cross of Coronado which had been claimed by a ‘collector of antiquities’ by saying “It belongs in a museum”… 

As a Classical Studies minor, it has always been a challenging thought about ‘who owns’ antiquities when they are discovered… and there are lots of delightful thoughts, memes, commentaries about the British Museum. Heck, even a court ruled that “the British Museum Act – which protects the collections for posterity – cannot be overridden by a “moral obligation” to return works known to have been plundered.”

Thus came this op/ed about “collectibles”… 

Opinion: I was cancelled by Greece for telling the truth about the Elgin Marbles — The Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05/21/greece-scared-to-hear-truth-elgin-marbles-cancelled/ or https://apple.news/A2VabiM45TOyi1iupkoy0hw?highlight=ove%20on%20the%20basis%20that,%20for%20the%20historian%20and%20the%20archaeologist

Well, that all comes to a moment where I read a powerful commentary in a graphic novel – Kaboom! by Jay Odjick and KC Oster that puts an indigenous lens on those …. “collectibles” – making fun of the ‘belongs in a museum’ line with the more apt observation that: “this will be returned to its rightful owners… the Tzotzil people of San Juan Chamula”

Mario Trabucco della Torretta tries to make a case that it’s ridiculous that they were stolen as Lord Elgin cold not have just slipped it away… but that’s not acknowledging the imbalance of power that often exists during colonial expansion (whatever the era). He decries that the title to ownership by the British Museum is ‘unimpeachable’… that they were from a crumbling building inside a military base (so invading forces = ownership?) .. symbols change and viewpoints matter.

Not too far in the past, I might have agreed with some points – knowing that decisions made in the past were made in that particular systemic viewpoint… but that doesn’t mean we should have a change of perspective. Sure museums are meant to protect history and culture… but we are also in an era where we can do recreations and digital archival work that meets the best of both worlds (even putting on my old classical studies courses after dusting them off more than a little…) It’s a great time to return many of these artifacts ‘home’ (if home still exists) and allow them to be viewed where they authentically existed. With a few exceptions, travel to any part of the world has never been easier… and virtual exhibits can easily be shared simpler than ever before.

Maybe this is one more reminder that learning evolves when perspective shifts. “It belongs in a museum” once sounded like a noble certainty. Today, perhaps the better question is: whose museum, whose story, and who gets to decide?