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Exhibition Service and its Office of Museum Programs. Against the backdrop of knowing that the present Museum of the American Indian is faced with severe financial handicaps and may be forced to close down its operations if appropriations are not forthcoming by year's end, the Regents wished to express their support and intention to cooperate with Mr. Rangel at the same time as they moved forward with approvals on the Memorandum of Understanding and the draft legislation. Accordingly, the following motion was adopted:

VOTED that the Board of Regents recognizes that the future use of the present facility at Audubon Terrace needs to be considered, and the Smithsonian Institution will continue to work with the City of New York and the Heye Foundation on programming and related questions. 

With Senator Moynihan voting "Present," the following motion was adopted:

VOTED that the Board of Regents approves the Memorandum of Understanding between the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution, and hereby authorizes the Secretary to execute it.

The Regents then considered the motion by which they would signal their approval for the draft legislation, making clear that the Congressional members of the Board are asked to invite Congressional committee chairmen to introduce the measure, and the following motion was approved:

VOTED that the Board of Regents requests its Congressional Members to co-sponsor and support legislation to establish the National Museum of the American Indian within the Smithsonian Institution.

With these actions completed, the Secretary invited the Regents to attend a public signing ceremony and press conference on the east terrace of the National Air and Space Museum (overlooking the site of the proposed museum) at 1:30 p.m.

[[underlined]] AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM POSSIBILITIES AND ANACOSTIA  MUSEUM PLANNING [[/underlined]]

The January 1989 Report on Smithsonian African American programming, sent to Mr. Yates and given to the Regents, and Anacostia Museum Director Kinard's testimony before the Congress, raised the question of how to plan on the future of the Anacostia Museum while at the same time considering plans for a distinct African American Museum on the Mall. This report to the Regents reiterates that the future of the Anacostia Museum should not be jeopardized or directly influenced by the prospect of a new Mall facility but recognizes, additionally, that plans for either cannot be considered in isolation.