Baldy: Events: Cultural Heritage Conference

On Friday, April 2, the Baldy Center for Law & Social Policy will host a one-day Conference on the Ownership and Repatriation of Cultural Heritage at the University at Buffalo. The public keynote address will be given by distinguished author Hector Feliciano on Thursday, April 1 at the Buffalo and Erie Country Historical Society in downtown Buffalo.

Museums and libraries are key institutions for the goals of preserving and archiving cultural heritage. The missions of museums and libraries are carried out within a nexus of legal, market, and social relationships. The purpose of this conference is to provide a forum for exploring the legal and social issues confronted by museums and libraries in their handling of cultural heritage. Our focus will be on the twin questions of ownership and repatriation, as explored by interdisciplinary panels of scholars. More ...

Conference Organizers

Carole Ann Fabian
Director, Educational Technology Center, University Libraries, University at Buffalo
716.645.7700 ext 2
cafabian@buffalo.edu

Shubha Ghosh
University at Buffalo Law School
716.645.2749
sghosh2@buffalo.edu

Sandra Olsen
Director, UB Art Galleries and Museum Studies, College of Arts and Sciences University at Buffalo
716.645.6912 ext 1425
sholsen@buffalo.edu

Conference Participants

Keith Aoki
University of Oregon School of Law
Stephen Clark
Legal Counsel, Museum of Modern Art, NYC
Hector Feliciano
Author, keynote address
Patty Gerstenblith
DePaul University College of Law
Richard W. Hill, Sr.
Chairperson, Haudensaunee Standing Committee on Burial Rules and Regulations, c/o Tonawanda Seneca Nation, Bascom, NY
G. Peter Jemison
Director, Ganondagan State Historic Site, Victor, NY; Seneca Repatriation Representative

Aaron Milrad
Attorney, Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP; Author on art enterprise
Oscar White Muscarella
Senior Research Fellow, Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC
Jim Pepper Henry
Asst. Director for Community Services, Cultural Resource Center, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Susan Scafidi
Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law; currently at the Center for Study of Law and Culture Columbia Law School, NYC

Rebecca Tsosie
Lincoln Professor of Native American Law & Ethics; Exec. Director, Indian Legal Program; American Indian Studies Program, Arizona State University
Kenneth Wayne
Curator of Modern Art, Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo
Paul Williams
Barrister & solicitor for Six Nations, Ohsweken, Ontario
Boguslaw Winid
Deputy Chief of Mission, Polish Embassy, Washington, DC
Nancy H. Yeide
Head of Curatorial Records,
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Keynote Address

Hector Feliciano
"The Lost Museum: The Nazi Conspiracy to Steal the World's Greatest Works of Art"
Thursday, April 1, 2004 Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society

Hector Feliciano spent more than seven years tracking down the story of Nazi art pillaging. Drawing on recently declassified documents, interrogation reports, detailed Nazi inventories, private family archives, museum catalogs, and hundreds of interviews, Feliciano paints a vivid picture of a concealed international art trade with links in France, Germany, Switzerland, the former Soviet Union and the United States. The fate of these looted works as they pass through the hands of top German officials, unscrupulous art dealers and unwitting museums, galleries, and auction houses.

Program

Download a copy of this program

Download conference abstracts

Thursday, April 1, 2004 Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society

5:30 - 6:00 pm Reception and Book Sale
6:00 - 7:30 pm Keynote Address: Hector Feliciano

"The Lost Museums: The Nazi Conspiracy to Steal the World's Greatest Works of Art"

Friday, April 2, 2004 Screening Room, Center for the Arts, University at Buffalo

8:30 - 5:00 Book Sale
8:30 - 9:00 am Registration and coffee
9:00 - 9:05 Welcome and Introduction

9:05 am - 10:45 am Cultural Material: Property or Heritage?

"Plant Genetic Resources, Agricultural Knowledge and Cultural Property: A New Form of Supranational Property?"
Keith Aoki, University of Oregon School of Law
"Property, Heritage, and the Rhetoric of Cultural Ownership"
Susan Scafidi, Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of Law; currently at Columbia Law School, NYC
"Haudenosaunee Rematriation Issues: The View from Midstream"
Paul Williams, Barrister & Solicitor, Ohsweken, Ontario
Facilitator: Shubha Ghosh, University at Buffalo Law School

10:45 - 11:00 Break

11:00 - 12:15 Guarding the Guardians of Culture

"Nationalism, Ownership and the Archeological Heritage"
Patty Gerstenblith, DePaulUniversity College of Law, Chicago
"Title forthcoming"
Jim Pepper Henry , Assistant Director for Community Services, Cultural Resources Center, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institute
"The Plunder Culture: Its Citizens - A Discussion"
Oscar White Muscarella , Senior Research Fellow, Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC
Facilitator: Carol Ann Fabian , Director, Educational Technology Center, University at Buffalo Libraries

12:15 - 1:15 Lunch

1:15 - 3:00 Holocaust Era Assets
"Resolving World War II Provenance Claims: Legal and Ethical Considerations"
Stephen Clark, Assoc. General Counsel, The Museum of Modern Art, NYC
"Examples of Legal and Political Inhibiters to Recovery of Holocaust Stolen Art"
Aaron Milrad , Attorney and Author on Art Enterprise, Toronto
"Poland’s Wartime Losses and the Restitution Efforts"
Boguslaw Winid, Deputy Chief of Mission, Polish Embassy, Washington, DC
"A Marriage of Necessity: Museums and Archives"
Nancy Yeide, Head of Curatorial Records, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Facilitator: Kenneth Wayne, Curator of Modern Art, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo

3:00 - 3:15 Break

3:15 - 5:00 Native American and Indigenous Peoples Artifacts
"Museums and Rematriation"
Donald Grinde, Department of American Studies, Center for the Americas, University at Buffalo
"What We Have Learned from the NAGPRA Process - A Haudenosaunee Perspective on Repatriation"
Richard W. Hill, Sr., Chairperson, Haudenosaunee Standing Committee on Burial Rules and Regulations, c/o Tonawanda Seneca Nation, Basom, NY.
"Legal Framework for Native American Cultural Resources Protection"
Rebecca Tsosie, Arizona State University Law School
"Post Kinewick - Who Owns the Past"
G. Peter Jemison, Director, Ganondagan State Historic Site, Victor, NY; Seneca Repatriation Representative
Facilitator: Sandra H. Olsen, Director, UB Art Galleries and Museum Studies

6:30 Reception
UB Anderson Gallery, Martha Jackson Place, Buffalo

Registration

General Registrants: Download a registration form or contact the Baldy Center
E-mail: baldyctr@acsu.buffalo.edu
Phone: 716.645.2102
Fax: 716.645.2900

CLE Registrants: Download a CLE registration form or contact the Baldy Center
The conference offers Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits for attorneys. A total of 7.5 CLE credits is available: 5.5 Professional Practice CLE credits and 2.0 Ethics CLE credits. Attendance at the entire conference is necessary in order to obtain CLE credit.

Accommodation

Accommodation for all participants has been booked at the University Inn and Conference Center. Other registrants should make their own bookings and can take advantage of rooms reserved at the workshop rate: mention the Cultural Heritage Conference when you contact the hotel. You can visit the University Inn and Conference Center's web site or call 716 636-7500.

All hotel guests can make use of the complimentary shuttle bus service to and from the airport and the campus. A continental breakfast is also included for every guest.