Dear friends,
 
I asked a similar question to this one last week and I thank those who responded.  This week, I need to frame the question more tightly since I am still conflicted with the list-serv's responses and what I am facing from the college's legal council.
 
I am the Director of a museum that has been opened for 6 ½ years.  It is a Natural History museum with 10,000 square feet of space with African and North American mammal collections, plus collections of insects, bird eggs (over 500 clutches), bird, geology, shell, herpetology and Native American collections.  We are a part of a college, not a corporation on our own.  The museum opened two years before I became Assistant Director/Education Coordinator (I was a public school teacher for 30 years prior to that).
 
At that time, the college's understanding of a museum was simple.  'We will open the doors and people will come'.  They knew nothing about the museum industry especially its legal and ethical standards.  I became director 1 ½ years ago and began attending conferences and workshops.  Through these experiences I became aware that I had many problems and issues to get resolved.  The major one was, how was I going to get the administration to understand what it will take for us to begin to get on track and begin to do the things we should have been doing from the beginning.
 
I chose to start by trying to get them to understand the legal and ethical issues of "holding our collections in the public's trust".  The college is a 501(c)(3) entity.  All of the collections were given to the college.  I asked the college's legal council if it was his understanding that the college is responsible to hold the collections in the public's trust and for the stewardship of the collections.  His response was, "I'm assuming that's true, although those are the words of a professional organization and not the law.  As a part of the college, the museum is obligated to do what nonprofit charities registered under IRC 501(c)(3) do.  In other words, any property belonging to the college (such as the museum collections) are to be used in furtherance of our charitable, religious, or educational purposes."  I interpret his answer to say that "holding our collections in the public's trust" are the words of the American Association of Museum and not what the law says.
 
Is this correct?  The museum has significant environmental issues that are affecting the collections.  Is it the college's legal or ethical obligation to correct the temperature and RH problems in the museum?  I have requested, as a capital budget expense for 2007-08, a separate HVAC system for the museum to get our environment under control.  I need to know if legally, we need to do this or ethically need to do this. 
 
Any insights, especially to the legal versus ethical issue of this situation, will be greatly appreciated. 
 
Kenneth D. Mark
Director of the Oakes Museum
 
Messiah College
One College Ave. Box 3029
Grantham, PA 17055
 
Telephone: 717-691-6082
FAX: 717-691-6046
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