British Museum to digitise records after theft of treasures

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The British Museum has pledged to digitise its records within five years as part of a series of measures to safeguard its collection following the theft of about 2,000 artefacts.

George Osborne, former Conservative chancellor and chair of the museum, told MPs on Wednesday that it had been “victim of an inside job” after objects were taken over a period of between 20 and 25 years.

Roughly 350 of these objects “were in the process” of being returned, he said, adding that they would subsequently go on display since “there is a lot of public interest” in them. “We have the makings of a good exhibition,” said Osborne.

The crisis over the thefts of treasures, including ancient semi-precious stones and gold jewellery, rocked the reputation of the 270-year-old institution this summer. It triggered the resignation of director Hartwig Fischer and focused attention on the shortcomings of the museum’s records as well as its security protocols. 

The museum dismissed a staff member it suspected of carrying out the theft and has launched an independent review, led by former trustee Nigel Boardman. London’s Metropolitan Police is conducting a separate investigation. 

Sir Mark Jones, interim director of the British Museum, told the House of Commons culture, media and sport committee that 1mn objects were “unregistered”, from a total of 8mn in its stores and on display. Another 300,000 were registered but not digitised, and a further 1.1mn had a digital record but no photograph. 

“One of the reasons that I’m so keen that we not only complete the documentation and digitisation of the collections, but also make them as accessible as possible, is that . . . the most sustainable and best security for collections is that they are widely known and widely used,” he said. 

“What was wrong here was that these 2,000 objects were really known only to one person.” 

The missing objects were part of a large acquisition by the museum and had been considered low-value by 19th-century curators, Jones said. As a result, they were left undocumented. “It’s a real failure that this initial decision not to register them was never rectified,” he said.  

Osborne said the museum had upgraded its whistleblowing policy to ensure staff were confident when speaking out, and that security procedures had been tightened. For example, staff could no longer visit the museum’s “strong rooms” unaccompanied, with a two-person minimum now required. 

The news of the thefts has come at a critical time for the museum, as it prepares a “master plan” to refurbish and modernise the ageing infrastructure of its vast neoclassical building in Bloomsbury, central London. The work is expected to cost hundreds of millions of pounds, and the museum will seek funding from a mix of public and private sources, including individual donors and foundations. 

In spite of serious questions over its procedures and governance, Jones said donors remained committed to the institution. “We have yet to be aware of any donor who is, as it were, stepping away from their support from the museum,” he said.