It has become increasingly common in recent decades for Western museums to be portrayed not as sites of preservation and education but rather as homes of works stolen by imperialist Westerners. Drawing on his upcoming book, Plunder? How Museums Got Their Treasures, historian Justin M. Jacobs challenges that perspective, providing an overview of the five primary channels through which Western museums acquired their artifacts: military plunder, diplomatic gifts, antiquity dealers, stationary excavations, and mobile expeditions. Only by gaining a greater appreciation for the original historical context that informed the transfer of art and antiquities from the source country to a Western museum, Jacobs argues, can calls for cultural restitution be properly assessed.
Jacobs is a professor of Chinese history at American University and the author of several books.
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