Viewing page 67 of 272

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

-51-

[[underlined]]Museum of African Art[[/underlined]]

Mr. Ripley reported that on October 5, 1978, President Carter signed Public Law 95-414, the legislation which the Board of Regents voted to support at their January 16, 1978, meeting. This law authorizes the Board to accept as a gift all the assets of the Museum of African Art and authorizes appropriations to the Smithsonian to support the costs of operating the Museum as a bureau of the Institution.

Two essential steps remain before title to the Museum can be transferred. First, an Agreement must be executed which will commit the Museum to make this gift to the Smithsonian, and commit the Smithsonian to operate the Museum as provided in law. And second an appropriation of Federal funds adequate to our operation of the Museum must be received. Toward this second requirement, the Office of Management and Budget has permitted us to request a supplemental appropriation of $650,000 for FY 1979 and an appropriation of $750,000 for FY 1980. Hearings on these requests will be forthcoming this spring with likely appropriations following by early summer.

The necessary Agreement between the Smithsonian and the Museum of African Art is attached in draft form, as worked out in close cooperation with Mr. Warren Robbins, Director of the Museum, and members of the Board of Trustees. This Agreement provides for the