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."