Keith Collection
Object or Group Name
Keith Collection
Case Summary
In 2020, the Brooklyn Museum returned 981 of an expected 4,500 archaeological pieces taken from numerous different archaeological sites in Costa Rica.
The objects were part of a private collection built in the 1930s by railway tycoon Minor Cooper Keith, a railroad magnate and a founder of the United Fruit Company. Keith oversaw the clandestine removal and export of the objects from archaeological sites that were disturbed during construction of railroads in the late 19th and 20th centuries.
The Keith Collection contains at least 16,000 artifacts, some made of gold and jade, that Keith and his workers removed from sites located on rail lines and United Fruit Company banana plantations. Approximately 5,000 artifacts arrived in Brooklyn in 1934. Others went to the Smithsonian and other American museums.
The Brooklyn Museum said the objects had been shipped legally from Costa Rica, leaving the country before a 1938 Costa Rican law restricting export of archaeological artifacts. Nevertheless, curators at the Brooklyn Museum voluntarily returned the majority of this collection in 2020, after cataloging that began in 2011 and selecting approximately 10% to remain in Brooklyn for future exhibition.
The Costa Rican National Museum announced the returns in 2021, and local archaeologists have been overjoyed to be able to analyze examples of artifacts representing "the complete archaeological sequence" of the country, including several categories of artifacts were previously only known from illustrations in books.
The objects were part of a private collection built in the 1930s by railway tycoon Minor Cooper Keith, a railroad magnate and a founder of the United Fruit Company. Keith oversaw the clandestine removal and export of the objects from archaeological sites that were disturbed during construction of railroads in the late 19th and 20th centuries.
The Keith Collection contains at least 16,000 artifacts, some made of gold and jade, that Keith and his workers removed from sites located on rail lines and United Fruit Company banana plantations. Approximately 5,000 artifacts arrived in Brooklyn in 1934. Others went to the Smithsonian and other American museums.
The Brooklyn Museum said the objects had been shipped legally from Costa Rica, leaving the country before a 1938 Costa Rican law restricting export of archaeological artifacts. Nevertheless, curators at the Brooklyn Museum voluntarily returned the majority of this collection in 2020, after cataloging that began in 2011 and selecting approximately 10% to remain in Brooklyn for future exhibition.
The Costa Rican National Museum announced the returns in 2021, and local archaeologists have been overjoyed to be able to analyze examples of artifacts representing "the complete archaeological sequence" of the country, including several categories of artifacts were previously only known from illustrations in books.
Number of Objects
4500
Object Type
Various
Culture
Pre-Colombian Diquis, Chorotega, and possibly Mayan cultures
Private Collector
Minor Cooper Keith
Museum Name
Brooklyn Museum
Receiving Country
Costa Rica
Sources
Costa Rica reclaims artifacts from the prestigious Brooklyn Museum in New York
http://artdaily.com/news/50822/Costa-Rica-reclaims-artifacts-from-the-prestigious-Brooklyn-Museum-in-New-York
Costa Rica archaeologists in awe as Brooklyn Museum returns 1,305 artifacts
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/costa-rica-archaeologists-awe-brooklyn-museum-returns-1305-artifacts-2021-07-03/
Brooklyn Museum Returns More Than 1,300 Artifacts to Costa Rica
https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/brooklyn-museum-returns-artifacts-costa-rica-minor-c-keith-1234597739/
Images
https://artdaily.cc/news/50822/Costa-Rica-reclaims-artifacts-from-the-prestigious-Brooklyn-Museum-in-New-York
MOLA Contributor(s)
Jason Felch; Damien Huffer
Peer Reviewed By
Damien Huffer
Citation
“Keith Collection,” Museum of Looted Antiquities, accessed October 9, 2024, https://mola.omeka.net/items/show/1006.