A Framework for Resolution of Claims for Cultural Property

150 p. Examining committee chair: Dr. Patricia DeweyThis study employs qualitative research methods to analyze how museums determine ownership of cultural property when there is no universally accepted standard to settle differences. I find a need exists for a consistent effort to bring together knowledge and expertise in international restitution processes. This research examines the cultural property dispute that arose in 2006 between the Saint Louis Art Museum and the Egyptian government involving ownership of the Ka-Nefer-Nefer Egyptian mummy mask. The legality of that acquisition and the ongoing dispute between the Egyptian government and the museum all serve in this paper as an illustrative example of the number of disputes that have arisen in the last twenty-five years between States and museums over looted cultural heritage