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101 Op. Md. Att'y Gen. 3 (2016)

handle is hein.sag/sagmd0105 and id is 1 raw text is: PUBLIC PROPERTY COMMISSION ON ARTISTIC PROPERTY - MANAGEMENT AND TRANSFER OF PUBLIC PROPERTY - INTERNAL MANAGE- MENT EXCEPTION TO RULEMAKING REQUIREMENT February 8, 2016 The Honorable Timothy D. Baker State Archivist Maryland State Archives On behalf of the Commission on Artistic Property (the Commission), you asked for our opinion on certain issues relating to the Commission's custody and control over the artistic property held by the State. The Commission is the body within the Maryland State Archives (the Archives) that is charged with the care and official custody of most of the valuable paintings and other objects of decorative art owned by or loaned to the State. Md. Code Ann., State Gov't (SG) § 9-1021(a). In addition, when the State purchased the Peabody Art Collection from the Peabody Institute in 1996 for $15 million, the Commission also became the official custodian of that collection. SG § 9-1021(a)(2). With respect to the objects subject to its official custody, the Commission must keep a continuing inventory of the objects and be responsible for and supervise the acquisition, custody, display, location, preservation, proper care, security, and restoration of the objects. SG § 9-1021(a)(1)(i), (ii). Pursuant to its statutory mission, the Commission has maintained a comprehensive inventory list of all of the artistic property in its official custody. As we understand it, however, some objects that presently are recorded on the list may not belong there. For instance, some objects are damaged beyond restoration, and some might not qualify as valuable paintings or other objects of decorative art. Additionally, approximately 25 objects listed as part of the Peabody Collection may not even be owned by the State, because they were not included in the 1996 purchase contract between the State and the Peabody Institute. The Commission has thus begun drafting a collections management policy to establish criteria for removing an object from the list or- as a museum curator might describe it-deaccessioning a piece from the collection. 1 1 We note for purposes of clarity that, although deaccessioning an object from a private museum's collection might mean both removing the object from the museum's inventory list and selling the object, it