Improvements Suggested for Museum Security

More than three centuries of gifts from wealthy alumni and carefully maneuvered acquisitions have left Harvard a legacy of museum treasures rivaling those of many larger collections.

Visitors to the University's 20 museums have access to millions of dollars in artifacts ranging from priceless paintings like Max Beckman's self-portrait to valuable gold and quartz crystals.

Earlier this year, the University published a booklet show-casing its vast collections of priceless artifacts. But several sources close to the museums have said in interviews last month with The Crimson that the University is not doing all that it can to protect them.

The University's museums' council, which has in the past overseen security matters, hasn't met in more than a year and has left the University museums without any collective administrative oversight.

The faculty council, which has ultimate responsibility for the collections of the Arts and Sciences museums, hasn't discussed the issue of museum security in at least 25 years, Council Secretary John B. Fox Jr said last week.

Despite this lack of coordination, museum curators praise Harvard police for their part in protecting the museums, but some say the security guards hired by Harvard should undergo extensive training and background checks before being allowed to guard the university's collections.

Finally, sources familiar with the museums said, many of the buildings which house collections do not provide adequate protection against theft or natural disasters, like fire. While most museums are designed to protect objects before saving human lives, the University museums' primary purpose is to protect its students.

The Council

In the late 1970s, Harvard established a "museum's council" to advise then-president Derek C. Bok on issues of museum security. The group met regularly through the last decade but has not met in more than a year-and-a-half. Their most recent initiative was publishing the booklet publicizing the collections.

"We have not met," said Carl A. Francis, the mineralogical museum curator and a council member, "because the chairman of the council [former Curator and Executive Director of the Semitic Museum Carney E. S. Gavin] was fired and there has been no replacement appointed by the president."

Gavin was fired after a scandal at the Semitic museum in which he was accused of violating employees' privacy in the fall of 1993.

"The museum council is a forum for museum representatives," said Francis, adding that the council had little power even when it did meet regularly.

"[It] doesn't have a lot of authority," Francis said.

Museum officials said Gavin's departure and the failure of the council to meet regularly has left curators without an official forum in which to coordinate security with the heads of Harvard's other museums.

This failure to act effectively places decision-making in the hands of the faculty council.

But several sources alleged that faculty members lack the expertise to promulgate policies which adequately protect the millions of dollars worth of artifacts in Harvard's museums.

"The concerns of faculty and curators are not always the same and since faculty members are tenured...curators are always expendable," said one source close to the museums. "I am not sure that the faculty can make the best judgment [for the museums]."

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that professors in the Semitic museum, for example, were "not always as conscious as someone would like them to be." Professors would often leave doors unlocked or distribute keys without discretion.

The Report

In 1991 or 1992, members of the museum council say they brought an outside security consultant to evaluate the integrity of Harvard's museums and to issue a report of the findings.

But numerous curators, security coordinators and Sgt. Larry J. Fennelly, a museum security expert and Harvard's crime-prevention officer, said they have never seen the report.

Elizabeth C. Thyne, the former head of security for the Semitic museum and its public programs director, said she toured the museums with the security consultant.

Thyne said the report was biased and proposed only unreasonable and expensive changes which would require major capital investment by the museums.

In an interview last month, Joseph A. Green, assistant director of the Semitic museum, suggested on-going training for security and curatorial staff to ensure the protection of collections.

"There are two components to museum security: the hardware component and human procedure," said Green. "[Human procedure] is accomplished by... on-going training, as part of a maintenance programs the same way you maintain a physical plant."

Guard Training

Currently, security guards patrol museums from 16 to 24 hours each day, depending on the location. Specific security policies are usually determined by the administrators in individual facilities, according to Herbert J. Vallier, the associate director of the Harvard police.

But Thyne, a security supervisor, said in her experience, training was "learn as you go." Instead, she would often call Fennelly with security questions.

Another problem facing security officials is the lack of employee background checks.

"Anybody who works for Harvard should be scrutinized carefully," Harvard Police Chief Paul E. Johnson said earlier this year.

In the past, museum employees have stolen valuable objects from Harvard's collections.

In May of 1993, James A. Hogue, an Extension School student and casual employee of the Mineralogical Museum, was arrested for stealing nearly $100,000 in precious gems, minerals and other property from that museum. And later that same summer, police apprehended a volunteer who had stolen rare objects from the Museum of Comparative Zoology.

Some museums have taken measures to increase security.

The Harvard Art Museums, which include the Busch-Reisinger, Sackler and the Fogg, completed a security upgrade in October 1993 and now hire their own, in-house security staff because their system is sophisticated and requires highly trained personnel, according to Michele M. Trifiro, head of security for the Art Museums.

"We use a complete... security monitoring system which is computerized," Trifiro said. "Most places have these, but we just have more of them [and devices like] door contacts, motion detectors, and card access."

Trifiro hired several security professionals to supervise and monitor the computers of the museums.

"[Security before the upgrade] was a good system," Trifiro said, "but it wasn't the best that it could be."

The Harvard Art Museums are very secure, Trifiro says, but the upgrade was very costly and paid for entirely with outside grants. Moreover, she adds, these collections reside in buildings designed specifically to house a museum.

But most museum buildings were not built with security in mind.

"[The Semitic museum] is a nineteenth century building and we are trying to operate it as a twentieth century museum," said Green.

Fennelly said he understands the inconveniences caused by older buildings but added that the current structures are the best Harvard can provide.

"Security systems here have to be designed around the structure," he said. "You have to do the best you can."

Danger Exists

Nevertheless, curators and security experts admit the danger of damage or theft.

"Maybe not every piece of the collection is covered, but the collection is covered," said Fennelly. "There's always that degree of honesty that goes along with it."

Susan M. Rossi-Wilcox, curator of the Botanical Museum, home of Harvard's one-of-a-kind glass flowers, agrees that her artifacts are not entirely safe.

"For us, in terms of the glass flowers, anytime you have glass objects in glass cases, there is the potential for damage," she said.

The question for University officials is to determine the reasonable level of care without incurring exorbitant costs.

"Universities are required to take reasonable care of the things that have been entrusted to their possession," said University attorney Alan A. Ryan Jr. "The whole concept of reasonableness is not so much that its vague, but its very flexible."

Part of the definition, he said, is that "things that are more important receive more attention."

But some sources said curators and their collections do not receive sufficient attention from the rest of the University.

"The tendency for each individual museum is for each to do a thing on its own," said Green. "[But] we share many of the same sorts of problems."

Although curators share problems, they differ on solutions.

Some museum officials, like Green, would like to see biennial security evaluations performed by outside companies. The cost of such an evaluation is about $2,000, according to Sgt. Fennelley.

"I think it would be a good idea partly because it brings an outside voice with a different perspective," Green said.

Yet, Peabody Museum Assistant Director Lawrence J. Flynn said he is satisfied with the current system.

"The security teams are all wonderful and [I hope we] keep them functioning well," said Flynn.

Security Problems

Officials at Harvard Museums were unwilling to talk about their specific problems because they feared details might compromise their security.

But one evident problem is the use of sprinkler systems in collections which would be irreparably damaged by humidity and water.

"It would be a colossal disaster for the museum," said Francis, the curator of the mineralogical museum. "It would set us back a generation."

The Fogg uses a sophisticated sprinkler system along with sprinkler substitutes, according to Trifiro.

Haylon is an effective substance in air-tight areas, but its use has been outlawed because it causes damage to the ozone. Trifiro said FM-200 is also a good substitutes. Still, water remains the safest alternative.

Curators admit there are many options which would better secure the University's collections. But sources said museum curators are left in a vulnerable position.

They are unable to influence decisions in the University because of the lack of coordination of the museum council and their non-tenured jobs.

And by its own admission, the University faculty has failed to pick up the slack.