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April 4 - June 16, 1996

New Orleans, LA
Perseverance Hall

Beyond Category: The Musical Genius of Duke Ellington

April 4 - June 16, 1996

Cincinnati, OH

Arts Consortium of Cincinnati

Climbing Jacob's Ladder: The Rise of Black Churches in Eastern American Cities

April 6 - May 19, 1996

Duluth, MN

Lake Superior Museum of Transportation

Produce for Victory: Posters on the American Home Front, 1941-1945

April 8 - May 21, 1995

Naples, FL

Philharmonic Center for the Arts

Major League/Minor League: America's Baseball Stadiums by Jim Dow

April 11-14, 1996

Norfolk, VA

Norfolk Train Depot

Art in Celebration!

Presented on board Artrain, America's Museum on the Rails

April 11 - July 21, 1996

San Antonio, TX

Witte Museum of Science and History

More Than Meets the Eye

April 12 - June 15, 1996

Savannah, GA

Telfair Academy of Arts and Science

Louis Armstrong: A Cultural Legacy

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April 13 - May 5, 1996

Thibodaux, LA

Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center

After the Revolution: Everyday Life in America, 1780-1800

April 13 - June 9, 1996

Farmington, NH

Farmington Museum

Whispered Silences: Japanese American Detention Camps, Fifty years Later

April 18-21, 1996

Edenton, NC

Edenton Train Depot

Art in Celebration!

Presented on board Artrain, America's Museum on the Rails

April 20 - Aug. 4, 1996

Greensboro, NC

Greensboro Historical Museum

Major League/Minor League: America's Baseball Stadiums by Jim Dow

April 20 - May 28, 1995

Satanta, KS

Dudley Township Public Library

Saynday Was Coming Along: Silverhorn's Drawings of the Kiowa Trickster

April 20 - June 2, 1996

Lawrence, KS

Natural History Museum, Univ. of Kansas

The Tongass: Alaska's Magnificent Rain Forest

April 20 - June 23, 1996

Flint, MI

Mott Community College Library

Beyond Category: The Musical Genius of Duke Ellington

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April 25-26, 1996

Preparatory Workshop: Produce for Victory

Participants: Filmore County Historical Society, Filmore, NE
Nemaha Valley Museum, Auburn, NE

Meridian Museum, Cozad, NE

Banner County History Society, Harrisburg, NE
Nebraska Humanities Council

April 25 - Sept. 8, 1996

Wilberforce, OH

National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center

Van DerZee, Photographer (1886-1983)

April 27 - June 23, 1996

El Paso, TX

University of Texas at El Paso

Two Eagles/Dos Aguilas: A Natural History of the Mexico-U.S. Borderlands

FY 1995 Buyouts

Question 39: Last year 229 individuals took advantage of the buy out opportunity. Of that number, 206 were Federal positions and 23 were trust fund employees. Have these positions been eliminated or has the Smithsonian refilled those positions?

Answer: Essentially all of those positions have been eliminated. However, because the incentive program was truly voluntary, several units were severely depleted and unable to execute basic tasks. Several have since been reorganized and become parts of other entities, and in five instances "backfill" of positions was approved.

Report of the Commission on the Future of the Smithsonian Institution

Question 40: I read with interest the report of the Commission on the Future of the Smithsonian Institution "E Pluribus Unum: This Divine Paradox." I was particularly interested in the report's conclusion that the Smithsonian will not be able to "do everything we all want to do" and "that it must choose between established, even cherished, activities and new programs." I am curious about your response to that conclusion and how specifically you are prepared to made those choices?

Answer: The conclusion of the report of the Committee on the Future of the Smithsonian Institution reflects the reality, not only of the funding environment, now and into the foreseeable future, but also of the capacity to guide with excellence and responsibility a large Institution with competing demands and disparate interests.

The Smithsonian is a smaller entity in terms of staff than it was two years ago, differently organized in order to make the most effective use of that staff and of decreased levels of Federal operational funding, while also venturing into new areas, such as those reflected by growing electronic outreach and activities surrounding the Institution's 150th anniversary. The Institution is seeking to streamline and stabilize its operational base and facilities infrastructure in order to assure far into the future a lively range of imaginative public programming that will attract and be supported by non-Federal resources.

Through internal processes of planning and evaluation, various activities are likely to be reorganized, streamlined, and even eliminated, while others, such as the National Museum of the American Indian and the Extension of the National Air and Space Museum come into being in fulfillment of statutory obligations and Institutional commitments with respect to the collections embraced by those units.

Collections Management

Question 41: The report recommends a master plan for maintenance of the collections and also recommends long-term or permanent loans to partner institutions. Have you prepared

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such a master plan and what is your response to the recommendation concerning increased loans?

Answer: Since 1980 the Smithsonian has had in place a collections management policy that stresses requirements for access to and accountability for the collections with which it has been entrusted. The policy was revised in 1992 to emphasize internal controls, the creation of collecting plans, and the management of collections information.

Each Smithsonian unit that collects has an on-going program of evaluating the condition and maintenance of its collections. These programs and the collections management policy under which they have been established are being examined from several perspectives. The Smithsonian Council, a group of external museum professionals and academicians that meets annually, is chief among those currently exploring the range of issues that affect Smithsonian collections. Its meeting this fall, as well as the results of other examinations, are expected to lead to adjustments, if not full-scale rearticulation, of the Smithsonian's overall collections management policy and implementation of programs under it.

Because of Institutional responsibilities for collections, many of which have restrictions with respect to their use, permanent loans or transfers are relatively rare. However, long-term loans that hold out the prospect of renewal if appropriate conditions are met are relatively common. The idea of increasing loans of any kind is certainly welcome because it would mean that the knowledge inherent in objects loaned can be developed and shared. It must be borne in mind, however, that in order to loan objects, organizations that will use them wisely and treat them well must be interested in receiving them.

Question 42: Does the Smithsonian currently have any of its collection on long-term or permanent loan and if so what success have you had with this? Is this an effective means of broadening the Smithsonian outreach? Would this also alleviate what you have identified as the most critical collections management issue, i.e. inadequate storage for the collections?

Answer: Lending objects and specimens for exhibition, research, and study is an integral part of the Smithsonian's mission to make museum collections accessible to the widest possible audience, from scholar to school child. Currently the Smithsonian has numerous collections or collection items on long-term loan for educational and scientific purposes. However, the Institution does not use the term "permanent" in describing long-term loans. According to policy and practice, the Smithsonian does not contract permanent loans. The term "permanent" loan is a misnomer because "permanent" possession can not be given to a museum by virtue of a "loan" agreement. All loans, including long-term loans, are temporary arrangements governed by a loan agreement that stipulates the purpose, length of the loan period with renewal options, and the specific loan conditions.

The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) has several biological collections on long-term loan to other institutions employing researchers who are actively studying these groups. As examples, the Museum's Ixodida (tick) collections are on long-term loan to the

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