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M U S E U M  P R O G R A M S

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Museum Program units have as their chief responsibility the provision of museum management and other services to the museums and research bureaus of the Institution.  They also offer assistance, guidance and technical services to museums throughout the United States and abroad and, in this connection, work closely with national and international organizations to advance the practices, methodologies and standards of the museum profession.  They provide such services as traveling exhibitions, horticultural exhibitions and displays, and grants, special studies, and support training for various aspects of museum work.  Museum Program units report to the Assistant Secretary for Museum Programs and consist of the following activities:  Office of Museum Programs, Conservation Analytical Laboratory, Office of the Registrar, Office of Exhibits Central, National Museum Act, Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Smithsonian Archives, Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, Office of International Activities, Office of Horticulture, and South Group Building Management.

In recent years, there have been significant changes in the status and perception of museums.  Their numbers have increased astonishingly everywhere; they have become integral to the educational process; they are more than ever held accountable for the quality and condition of important collections, and for the strength of their research and informational programs.  In many parts of the world, museums have become a chief means of preserving and expressing national cultures and identities.  These changes have created a need for better trained personnel for museums in such areas as collections management (encompassing accessions, registration, cataloguing, inventory control, security, and storage; conservation treatment and analysis; information systems; education; and general museum management.  New fields of research, especially archaeometry, which is concerned with the basic characteristics of materials, have been recognized as vital to the study and understanding of museum collections.  The use of fumigants and their impact on both museum materials and personnel must be better understood, and methods to conserve energy in museums, while still providing stable and secure environments for the collections, must be explored.  Much of the effort of Museum Program units is directed to these and similar issues.

[[underlined]]Current Resources and Support[[/underlined]]

Total resources available to Museum Programs in FY 1980 approximate $9,983,000 and 315 full-time positions.  Of this total, federal appropriations amount to $8,568,000 and 285 positions, and support almost entirely the units' basic work, with the exception of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES).  SITES relies to a large extent on general unrestricted trust funds ($850,000 in FY 1980), most of which are generated by rental fees for the exhibitions circulated.