Heidi:

   Why do want to have a collection, what sort of collection? The first
   thing you need is the dreaded mission statement.  I think that you
   should spend the first year and the first money really sounding out
   the community about what they want to see in that bank building, and
   using that information to craft a mission statement with the Board.
   Only then would I even *consider* building a collection.  Perhaps
   people want a venue for traveling exhibitions.  There are wonderful
   exhibitions that are professionally researched and mounted, with
   catalogs and educational material available for a few thousand
   dollars.  You could do a dozen traveling exhibitions with the budget
   you describe, assuming that you have security and capital improvements
   already paid for (like making the old bank building into a museum,
   with lighting, climate control, security and fire systems, and all
   that stuff.  I definitely do not think that you should start
   collecting objects without a mission.

   My $.02

   Eric Siegel
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