Crimes against Art: Forgery, Theft & Repatriation Issues: Cultural Heritage

Resources for research on art fakes & forgeries, art theft, art provenance, and cultural repatriation.

Case Studies

Web information

Cultural Heritage Center, U.S. Dept. of State website that brings together information on International Cultural Property Protection including an image database of items that cannot be imported to the U.S., a searchable database of projects funded by the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation, and information regarding the Iraq Cultural Heritage Initiative.

Selected Books on Cultural Property Protection & Repatriation

DVDs & Streaming Videos

To locate DVDs use the Library Catalog or browse the shelves in the library. Use the Guide to Streaming Videos to learn what is available at KU.  

Full Circle: Return of a Totem Pole. [Cambridge, Mass.] : Harvard University ; Watertown, MA : [Distributed by] Documentary Educational Resources, c2003. The story of the repatriation of a totem pole by the Peabody Museum at Harvard University to Cape Fox Corporation, a Tlingit community in Southeast Alaska. 27 minutes. DVD.

Looting Inca Graves-Peru, We follow Carlos Huester, a Peruvian archaeologist who has dedicated most of his career to preserving his country's heritage. Now he is attempting to stop the centuries old tradition of grave digging. 

Museums and the Blackfoot People, This video is about Blackfoot elders and their search for Blackfoot ceremonial items and artifacts being held in museums around the world.

Who Owns the Past? Berkeley, CA : Berkeley Media, c2001. Explores the attitudes and behavior of European Americans toward the remains of Native Americans and movement by Indians to reclaim their ancestors’ remains. 56 minutes. DVD.