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Smithsonian with the visiting public and the local tourist community, in the future the Center will continue to make every effort to promote the programs and activities of the Institution via the new Smithsonian Information Center.

[[underlined]] MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN [[/underlined]]

Mr. Adams introduced the subject of the Museum of the American Indian by directing the Regents' attention to the following report and its appended papers, which papers included most of the significant documents relating to recent developments. He went on to describe a preliminary meeting he has held with Roland Force, the Director of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, in an attempt to launch a study leading toward an affiliation agreement between the Smithsonian and the Heye Foundation such as that contemplated in S. 1722 as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. Mr. Adams referred to Dr. Force's letter of May 3, 1988 and the draft memorandum referenced therein, entitled "Joint Venture Concept" (also copied below), pointing out that this first draft of an affiliation agreement raises a number of difficulties which will need to be addressed: it does not seem at first glance to take the two institutions beyond established museum practices as they already exist with respect to loans and cooperative activities; and it visualizes a steady state of operation without indicating either how that state will be reached or how the process of reaching that state can be expected to change the nature of the operations of either institution.

The fundamental question before the Regents, Mr. Adams added, is a matter of the priorities that they may wish to set for a museum on the Mall paralleling the Museum of the American Indian in New York. From the point of view of Smithsonian management, it would be preferable first to resolve initially the matter of transferring the Custom House to the