from BBC News
Bone return consultation launched
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An update on the Working Group on Human Remains in the UK which has been tasked to scrutinise the legality of human parts being kept in public museums and collections in England and Wales. There is a strong lobby for the return of such human remians on the one hand, but also strong reasons for not returning on the other from the scientific and museum community. This debate has often times generated extremely heated and polarised arguments (see an earlier post here).

Reading this together with the previous stories on the clamour for the return of heritage artefacts to their (rightful) country of origin, it appears that even with the best standards of stewardship in caring for these historic and cultural items, it is still not enough justification for keeping something in a museum collection. How would this impact on the work of conservation and collections care? Is doing one's work to one's best ability and matching high standards enough, then? Or does one need to be doing right, as well?