I apologize for saying the Smithsonian had a role in holding natural history
and anthro/archeological collections. Blame it on my faulty memory.
                                                                -Chris Godbold


>From: "Michael A. Lewis" <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Object Sharing
>Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 13:49:11 -0700
>
>Chris Godbold wrote:
>
> > I suspect
> > this is more true for biological, archeaological and anthropological
> > specimens because all things collected, excavated, etc. on federal
>property
> > belong to the federal government, i.e. the Smithsonian. I imagine that a
>lot
> > of these specimens are in museums closer to where they were found,
>rather
> > than in Washington, DC.
>
>     The Smithsonian is not the ad hoc repository for all federal
>collections. Natural history and anthro/archaeological collections from
>federal lands are curated in repositories in the same state as the site of
>their collection, whenever possible. This means that many museums around
>the
>country have collections that are federal property but for which the
>federal
>government pays no curatorial or storage fees. This is a huge burden on
>museums already stretched to their budgetary limits. many museums conducted
>NAGPRA compliance activities on these federal collections with no
>recompense
>from the federal government.
>
>     Michael Lewis



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