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The Secretary noted that the Heye Foundation Museum of the American Indian in New York has fallen on hard times and its efforts to solve its financial and other problems through affiliation with other institutions have thus far been unsuccessful.  In their discussion the Regents supported Mr. Adams' intention to give this situation national attention and his view that the Institution cannot be considered as an alternate solution to the Heye Foundation's problems for the time being.

Mr. Adams added that the National Building Museum, housed in the Pension Building, is also having problems which threaten its future.  He expressed the view that the solution to their problems lies in either the architectural and building industries coming together with the necessary funds or some effort beginning with those industries to secure the funds from Congress.

The Secretary reported that this fall the Office of Management and Budget came to the Smithsonian with a proposal to add $2 million in non-competitive funds to the Institution's fiscal year 1986 budget request for the support of the American overseas research centers.  If appropriated, the funds would be allocated by the Smithsonian for the centers' administrative expenses and fellowship programs.

Mr. Adams said that the Institution has received a proposal from a contractor who wishes to use a strip of land from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in relation to a sewage outflow area for a nearby housing development; the Regents joined the Secretary in thinking that the Institution's rejection of this proposal would be consistent with the Center's interest in maintaining the watershed area for research.  The Secretary then referred to negotiations between the State of Maryland, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Smithsonian on designating the property at the Center as a National Estuarine Sanctuary.  While the Institution would benefit directly from this arrangement to the extent that limited funds would be made available from Maryland for facilities improvements at the Center, Mr. Adams asserted that the Smithsonian would be in a better position to maintain its lands as an estuarine sanctuary than the State.  He added that he hoped to continue discussions with State officials. 

The Secretary reported that several Smithsonian museums are faced with deaccessioning items in their collections which are not germane to their collecting policies.  The National Museum of of American Art has some European art which is excess to its present collecting focus.  The National Museum of African Art has a large number of small objects which are of insignificant artistic or cultural importance.  The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden has materials in many fields, including Egyptian and Oriental and most importantly African art, which are outside the field of modern art.  All three museums are anxious to arrange for an orderly deaccessioning process.  The situation at the Hirshhorn is complicated by the fact that a good portion of the materials would be of use to other Smithsonian museums and by statute the Museum's Board of Trustees is charged with the fiduciary responsibilities for the collections.  Mr. Adams indicated that he is prepared to take the position that the Institution cannot allow objects that are of major importance to any of its museums to disappear from Smithsonian