Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Looting the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum

The reference in the May 6th 2014 blog post revealed that the Arizona Historical Society is scattering the mineral collection across the state, and the June 17th 2014 blog post documented the removal and disposal of gift shop inventory. Both are violations of Arizona statutes.

The display cases once in the mineral museum are now in the Bullion Plaza Museum in Miami, AZ. This is also an obvious violation of ARS 41-827 B.

Why is the AHS not required to comply with Arizona statutes specifically intended to preserve the mineral museum and it K-12 education programs?

Reference:
Arizona Revised Statute 41-827. Centennial museum; mining and mineral museum; donations
A. The Arizona historical society shall operate and maintain the centennial museum that houses the mining and mineral museum for the following purposes and with the following authority:
1. To promote the recognition and celebration of the historical, cultural, economic and social contributions to this state made by the "five C's" of cattle, copper, cotton, climate and citrus for the observance of the centennial of Arizona as a state.
2. To maintain the mining and mineral museum as the state depository for collecting, cataloging and displaying mining artifacts and specimens of various ores, gemstones, lapidary material and other valuable mineral specimens.
3. To apply for and accept grants, donations, gifts, bequests of legacies of real or personal property, or any other contribution, financial or otherwise, for use in accordance with the direction of the donor, or, in the absence of an express direction, to be disposed of as prescribed by the board consistent with this article. Monies received pursuant to this paragraph shall be deposited in a separate account of the museum for the purposes of the museum.
4. To accept from the federal or state government, any local government or any of their agencies restricted and unrestricted monies made available to the state for the purposes of this article.
5. To establish and collect entrance fees to the museum for persons who are at least eighteen years of age.
6. To operate a retail gift shop including the acquisition, purchase and resale of mineral specimens and mineral-related items.
7. To authorize the director to employ a curator for the museum. The curator shall possess knowledge or experience in mineral collections or shall have other museum experience.
8. To operate educational programming for the museum.
9. To accept the services of volunteers and provide oversight for their activities.
B. The Arizona historical society shall maintain the items, artifacts and other inventory received for display or storage, including equipment and outdoor displays, and shall not sell or otherwise dispose of materials received for the centennial museum or the mining and mineral museum.

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