Geraldine Kendall Adams, British Museum working with National Archives to improve record-keeping, Museums Association, 20 August 2024

Institution rebuts media coverage suggesting it broke the law.

The British Museum is working with the National Archives to improve how it administers its records after an internal audit found it was “not compliant” with the Public Records Act.

The act governs the Place of Deposit system, by which archives services around the country can be appointed to preserve and provide access to public records on behalf of the Public Record Office, which is part of the National Archives.

According to the National Archives, a Place of Deposit “needs to meet basic standards of preservation, access and professional care for the type of public record held, the size of the collection and its use”.

The British Museum is recognised as a Place of Deposit for its archives and written records. The museum said in its annual report for 2023/24 that an internal audit had found that it was not compliant with the Public Records Act.

“A number of actions are currently being considered by management, who are continuing to work with the National Archives towards compliance,” says the annual report.

The British Museum has rebutted a report in The Sunday Times, subsequently picked up by other media outlets, suggesting that it had committed an offence or otherwise breached the legislation.

A museum source told Museums Journal that the media coverage misrepresented the Public Records Act.

The source said that the National Archives had provisionally accredited the British Museum under the Archive Service Accreditation, but had told the institution that there is “room for improvement in how it administers its records”. The museum is now working towards full accreditation.

The Sunday Times reported that if organisations are found to be in breach of the Public Records Act, “objects can be transferred elsewhere or handed over to the National Archives”.

The museum source said there has never been any suggestion of objects from the collection being transferred elsewhere, and that the National Archives has confirmed that the Public Records Act has no bearing on the museum’s collection.

A British Museum spokesman said: “The British Museum holds a historic archive of national significance, with a dedicated team overseeing its day to day management.

“The museum’s archive was awarded provisional accreditation by The National Archives (TNA) under the Archive Service Accreditation (ASA) Standard and is working closely with TNA to reach full accreditation.”

The British Museum has been under intense scrutiny since it announced a year ago that around 2,000 objects were damaged, missing or stolen from its collection.

The theft incident is covered in the annual report, which describes how an internal investigation highlighted “major weaknesses in the museum’s control environment related to the security of collection objects and associated records and archival material”.

The annual report also outlines the risk of reputational damage posed by “perceptions around documentation and stewardship of the collection”, which it says could affect the museum’s standing with the public, particularly internationally, and result in “reduced sponsorship and donations”.

The museum says it has introduced measures to strengthen the safety of the collection, including the complete documentation and digitisation of all unregistered material within five years, as well as changes to its governance framework.

“There is no denying that [the theft incident] was a blow for the museum, but the response has been decisive,” said chair George Osborne in a foreword to the annual report. “Following a thorough independent review into the events, the trustees accepted its recommendations in full.”

The museum has launched legal proceedings against former curator Peter Higgs in relation to the alleged thefts, which saw Roman and Greek artefacts damaged or sold online. More than 600 of the objects have since been returned to the museum in a worldwide recovery operation.

A police investigation is ongoing but no criminal charges have been brought in relation to the case.