One of the best-known artworks at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is Edward Kienholz’s “Back Seat Dodge ’38,” an assemblage that includes two faceless figures made of chicken wire and engaged in a sexual encounter in the back of an actual vintage car. Although it’s almost 40 years since the work first went on display, it still carries a certain titillation factor. In 1966, it sparked a controversy at the newly established museum and was declared pornographic by the county Board of Supervisors.

As I write this, the stock market is not doing to well, the economy is in a slump, and the aftermath of 9/11 is still having repercussions on our institution attendance and revenues. And yet, many museums, from The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco to MOMA in New York, are faced with one of the most daunting tasks that we as registrars or collection managers face: