I work for a newly formed (1999) 501 c 3 organization that will operate a museum which is currently being built with city funds. The city will own the museum building, and the collections of the museum will be provided by another 501 c3 organization which has been collecting artifacts and documents since the early 1980's. The museum and the Historical Society have been meeting to negotiate the transfer of the collection over to the museum as well as to discuss other issues such as membership and programming. Last week, while meeting with city officials regarding the museum project, they indicated, for the first time, that they want the Historical Society to transfer ownership of the collection to the city. They are concerned that if there is ever a falling out with the museum board, the board might move the collection out of the museum building. I do not want the city to own the collections because a) I don't think they know the responsibility they would be taking on and the special care collections need b)it will give the city an excuse for getting involved in the day to day operations of the museum,ie. We own the collection and we want you to do this c)it will complicate the governance structure of the museum-staff which would oversee collection currently works for the museum not the city. I would appreciate hearing from others their opinion regarding this. Oh, to complicate matters even further, right now the city is pretty much the sole source of funding for the museum. HELPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!! ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).