Introduction to Repatriation and Returning Cultural Belongings

Scotland’s museums are closely connected with the history of colonialism, slavery and empire. The millions of items in Scotland’s museums represent many cultures and individual lived experiences from across the world. However, many were acquired through violence, theft or inequality.

Many ancestral remains, cultural belongings, cultural treasures, natural specimens and scientific objects in museum collections are part of legacies of injustice. These legacies continue to impact people’s lives today. Scotland’s museums have an important role in contributing towards a more just world.

This guidance aims to support the identities of communities and peoples affected by the loss of ancestors and significant items, ensuring access to their heritage for current and future generations and by supporting restitution and return processes to become part of normal museum practice. It will:

Provide guidance and support to museums considering proposals for returning ancestors and cultural items
Support procedures that enable people to make proposals for returns from museums

Museums must put descendant communities, including those living away from their ancestral homelands, at the centre of discussions about museum collections, while still maintaining a professional approach as caretakers of museum collections.

Over the past three decades, there have been a number of returns from collections in Scottish museums.

This guidance is created in response to the recommendation from Empire, Slavery & Scotland’s Museums, to support museums and galleries in their repatriation work. Repatriation is a crucial part of decolonising initiatives and a clear way in which we can actively lead change, consider and reimagine the role of museums and galleries in understanding and addressing legacies of Colonialism, Slavery and Empire.

The Repatriation Working Group offers advice to Museums Galleries Scotland and support to museums considering returning ancestors and cultural items. The group members have experience in repatriation of museum collections through their roles in Scottish museums. This guidance uses shared experience but does not represent the views of any person or organisation on the working group.

What the group does:

Develops advice around the return of museum ancestors and cultural items
Advocates for greater support for cultural and other returns
Gives informal advice and support to museums exploring a return or dealing with a request for a return.

If you need help from the working group, contact Museums Galleries Scotland and they will connect you with someone who may be able to help. You can also contact MGS if you want to join the group.

We acknowledge that our current working group does not reflect the racial diversity of the communities we serve. We believe that the burden of work to progress the development of the guidance lies with those working within the Scottish museum sector. However, the work must be guided and informed by the voices and experience of those with personal connections to returns and of racial trauma. We welcome expressions of interest from individuals who can bring diverse perspectives and experiences to the work, either as group members or advisors to the group.

Repatriation Working Group Members

Current members

Patricia Allan – independent
Martin Bellamy – Glasgow Life
Lucy Casot – Museums Galleries Scotland
Alison Clark – National Museums Scotland
Neil Curtis (Convener) – University of Aberdeen Collections
India Divers – Museums Association
Duncan Dornan – independent
John Giblin – National Museums Scotland
Emma Gilliland – ANGUSalive
Mark Hall – Culture Perth & Kinross
Malcolm MacCallum – University of Edinburgh
Jacob O’Sullivan – Museums Galleries Scotland
Steph Scholten – The Hunterian, University of Glasgow
Gillian Simison – Museums Galleries Scotland
Janet Trythall – The Moray Society (Elgin Museum)

Previous members

Titilayo Farukuoye – Museums Galleries Scotland
Chante St Clair Inglis – Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh

Return (And Other) Stories is a series of stories which aim to make the ideas and processes of Restitution and Repatriation more accessible to museum workers and those interested in the topic. These stories include the experiences of communities who have made a request to a Scottish museum for the return of a cultural object. The series attempts to provide a balanced insight into the realities of repatriation request to show the complexities of this work.

6 people stand in an auditorium around a Benin Bronze sculpture placed upon a plinth covered in a blue table cloth that has "University of Aberdeen" written on it. 5 of the people have dark skin, 1 has light skin. The people are all wearing examples of formal dress in either the western european style or North West African style.

Advice Article

Returning a Benin Bronze to its rightful place: Benin City

In 2021, the University of Aberdeen returned a looted Benin Bronze from their collection to the Oba of Benin, becoming the first UK institution to agree to an unconditional return of a Benin Bronze. Neil Curtis, from University of Aberdeen, outlines the process of giving back a pillaged object without a repatriation request being made.

A group of medium skin tone people wearing traditional clothing of the Nisga’a Nation stand before a carved wooden memorial pole that is lying on its side in a steel framed box. Green tree branches decorate the box.

Advice Article

The Rematriation of the House of Ni’isjoohl Memorial Pole

The House of Ni’isjoohl Memorial Pole, stolen from the Nisga’a Nation in the 1920s, was rematriated from National Museums Scotland (NMS) in 2023. Noxs Ts’aawit (Dr. Amy Parent) of The Nisga’a Nation and Dr. John Giblin from NMS outline the process of international cooperation to rematriate the Memorial Pole to its ancestral home.

A glass jar containing a lizard specimen, displayed against a yellow wall. Next to the jar is a label titled 'Jamaican Giant Galliwasp'.

Advice Article

Return of the Galliwasp

Staff at The Hunterian share their experience of returning a specimen of the extinct Jamaican giant galliwasp back home to Jamaica. They highlight how the repatriation of the specimen was achieved through collaboration with curators and academics in Jamaica, and explain the challenges and outcomes of the process.

Over the past three decades, there have been a number of returns from collections in Scottish museums. The List of Repatriations from Scottish Museums records known returns of both cultural and sacred objects and ancestral remains from Scottish Museums dating back to 1947.

It also lists requests for returns that have been rejected. Cases where the receiving community have asked for the return to remain confidential are not listed to here to respect their request for privacy. The list is updated regularly.

Advice Article

Advice for museums considering returning items

There is no “one size fits all” approach to repatriation and returning ancestors or cultural items from museum collections varies. This guide outlines 6 areas museums should focus on when considering repatriation.

Advice Article

List of Repatriations from Scottish Museums

Search the list of repatriation requests made to Scottish museums and galleries

Advice Article

Return of the Galliwasp

Staff at The Hunterian share their experience of returning a specimen of the extinct Jamaican giant galliwasp back home to Jamaica. They highlight how the repatriation of the specimen was achieved through collaboration with curators and academics in Jamaica, and explain the challenges and outcomes of the process.