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Ms. Brown added that the Collections Identification Project will evolve into a collections acquisition program when the museum has its own professional researchers and curators. She suggested that the first exhibition for an African-American Museum consist of works from existing Smithsonian collections (not works that would be redesignated for the National African-American Museum) to show that there has been a legacy of collecting African-American material within the Smithsonian for years; it will also help people to know that this single museum is one that will refer them to other Smithsonian museums and suggest how they can look at those collections in a more comprehensive way.

In discussion, Ms. Brown assured the Regents that this project and the Anacostia Museum have both enjoyed good working relationships with the faculty of Howard University. The following motion was adopted unanimously:

VOTED that the Board of Regents endorses the establishment of a National African American Museum within the Smithsonian Institution and encourages the Secretary to draft legislation to that effect, consistent with the Regents' previous discussions. The Board authorizes its Executive Committee to approve draft legislation for the Congressional Regents' introduction and support; at the Committee's discretion, final consideration of legislation might await the February 1992 meeting of the Board.

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On May 6, 1991, the Board of Regents approved in principle the recommendations of the Advisory Committee of the African American Institutional Study to create a National African American Museum at the Smithsonian, on the Mall. Additionally, the Regents recommended that the staff report on the availability of materials which could become the permanent collection of the proposed museum.

The Process for Identifying Collections

The first phase of the project to identify collections was comprised of a research component and an outreach initiative. The research included computer searches for donors and lenders who had works in African American exhibitions over the last ten years and regional searches for articles on