20 U.S.C. § 50 : US Code - Section 50: Reception and arrangement of specimens and objects of art

Search 20 U.S.C. § 50 : US Code - Section 50: Reception and arrangement of specimens and objects of art

Whenever suitable arrangements can be made from time to time for
their reception, all objects of art and of foreign and curious
research, and all objects of natural history, plants, and
geological and mineralogical specimens belonging to the United
States, which may be in the city of Washington, in whosesoever
custody they may be, shall be delivered to such persons as may be
authorized by the Board of Regents to receive them, and shall be so
arranged and classified in the building erected for the institution
as best to facilitate the examination and study of them; and
whenever new specimens in natural history, geology, or mineralogy
are obtained for the museum of the institution, by exchanges of
duplicate specimens, which the Regents may in their discretion
make, or by donation, which they may receive, or otherwise, the
Regents shall cause such new specimens to be appropriately classed
and arranged. The minerals, books, manuscripts, and other property
of James Smithson, which have been received by the Government of
the United States, shall be preserved separate and apart from other
property of the institution.