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[[stamped]] 020310 [[/stamped]]

[[stamped]] 
Office of the Secretary 
May 5 - '88
[[/stamped]] 

[[preprinted]]
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN
HEYE FOUNDATION 
BROADWAY AT 155TH STREET
NEW YORK, N.Y. 10032
(212) 283-2420
[[/preprinted]]

May 3, 1988

Dr. Robert McC. Adams
Secretary
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, D. C. 20560

Dear Bob:

Our meeting last Friday was an important step forward in the development of a new cooperative relationship between the Smithsonian Institution and the Museum of the American Indian. We are anxious to do everything we can to advance the joint venture we discussed in which the New World anthropological collection resources of our two institutions can be more effectively utilized in the conduct of research and education.

I understand that there are portions of the Inouye/Moynihan amendment that you do not favor. It is my belief and hope that these may be modified so they will be acceptable. Indeed, from what you told me, you have already made some progress along these lines in discussions with Senator Inouye. To a large extent the objections you have to the legislation of which I am aware are internal Smithsonian matters. Nevertheless, if there are any ways in which I could be helpful to you in seeking acceptable solutions to the problems you perceive, please let me know.

As you are aware, we have begun to draft an affiliation agreement or joint venture statement which we will shortly have in shape to share with you. Your suggestion that some outside consultation in the form of a working group might advance our efforts seems to be a good one if we can recruit the appropriate people and insist on an expeditious treatment. We are concerned that unwarranted delays in moving the legislation forward could seriously jeopardize our relocation to the Custom House.

As you suggested, Marie Malaro (George Washington University) might be an appropriate consultant. I know her through her work on the Legal Problems and Museum Administration seminars, a number of which I have attended. She, along with other Smithsonian people like Powers, Weill, and Ulberg, have emphasized the kinds of things we need to be concerned about in developing a formal institutional relationship that would be founded on sound professional standards and safeguarding rules and regulations with respect to collection management and utilization.

People like Ray Thompson (Director, Arizona State Museum), Kenneth Starr (former Director, Milwaukee Public Museum), Pat Houlihan (Director, Millicent Rogers Museum and formerly Director of the Heard and Southwest Museums), and Bob