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B-197565 1 (1980-05-13)

handle is hein.gao/gaobadsby0001 and id is 1 raw text is: .' COMPITROLLER Gf NPRAL OF THE VJN1TFF's ATE9 ~~AHNG.'J D.C. 2Q-5148~N~R ~ii7i 3613 B-197565 May 13, 1980 The Honorable Margaret M. Heckler House of Representatives Dear Mrs. Heckler: This is in response to your letter raising several questions con- cerning the proposed sale of the Gilbert Stuart portraits of George and Martha Washington by the Boston Athenaeum to the Smithsonian Institution. The Smithsonian had originally planned to purchase the f portraits for the offered sale price of $5, 000, 000. More recently, however, a new agreement has been reached whereby the Boston Athenaeum has arranged to sell the portraits to the Smithsonian Institution and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts jointly for the com- bined purchase price of $4, 875,000. Several of the questions you raised concern the general authority of the Smithsonian to enter into contracts of this type for the purchase of new acquisitions. In order to answer these questions it is necessary to first consider the unique nature of the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian Institution was created in 1846 (9 Stat. 102) to administer the trust of John Smithson, who bequeathed the bulk of his estate to the United States of America to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an Establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men. The principal of the bequest was required to be lent to the United States Treasury at 6 percent interest which was appropriated to the perpetual maintenance and support of the Institution. A tract of publicly owned land was appropri- ated to the Institution and the construction of a suitable building for a museum, laboratory, library, art gallery, and lecture rooms was authorized. From time to time the functions of the Smithsonian have been increased by laws placing under its control additional establish- ments or authorizing it to extend its activities into additional fields, but its fundamental organization and powers have remained substan- tially unchanged. See 20 U.S.C. §§ 41et seq. The nature of the Smithsonian was described at length by James Bradley, Under Secretary of the Institution, in the course of testimony before the Subcommittee on Library and Memorials, Committee on House Administration, July 21, 1970, p. 262:

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