Whatever else happens in the current criminal case against the former director of the Kansas Cosmosphere, the dispute over artifacts that came up missing from the Hutchinson museum should make similar institutions around the country carefully review their collection policies.

Max Ary, who headed the Cosmosphere for 27 years, has been indicted on 19 counts involving mail fraud and money laundering. The charges stem from allegations that Ary stole memorabilia from the museum and sold some of it for a profit.

Although some of the missing items reportedly were on loan from NASA or bore museum identification numbers, Ary’s attorney has repeatedly said that the crux of the case is who actually owned the items in question. Commenting on items that were found during a search of Ary’s home in December 2003, the attorney said, “Who says they belong to the Cosmosphere?… There’s a substantial question as to the ownership on a large number of items.”

It’s hard to imagine that there would be real confusion about who owned the artifacts, but the attorney seems to be implying that Ary has an ownership claim on many of the items the museum claims he stole — even those that carried museum identification numbers. Could the documentation on donated items have been so lax that it was unclear whether the museum or the director was the new owner? If so, there is a real lesson here for museum boards and would-be donors.

Individuals or institutions making donations or loaning exhibits will want to make crystal clear who is the rightful owner of those items. Museum boards should look carefully at all donation and purchase agreements to make sure that the museum is the rightful owner and that employees, or even trusted directors, will have no ownership claim to the items. Items loaned to the museums should be carefully monitored and returned on schedule.

To an outsider, it seems a weak defense to claim that items the Cosmosphere claims were stolen actually belonged to Ary. But if the argument stands up in court, it is a strong indication that documentation of the exhibits that were loaned or acquired by the Cosmosphere was questionable at best.

It’s a case that certainly should have many museums auditing their collections and carefully reviewing their records to make sure they aren’t surprised some day when they see artifacts on their inventory being sold by someone else.