20 U.S.C. § 72: Board of Trustees

Summary

Creates a bureau inside the Smithsonian to run and care for the National Gallery of Art and its grounds. A board called the Trustees of the National Gallery of Art runs the bureau. The board includes four automatic members—the Chief Justice of the United States, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Secretary of the Smithsonian—and five general trustees who must be U.S. citizens and not federal officers or employees. The first five general trustees were picked by the Board of Regents with the donor’s OK, and their terms end one each on July 1, 1939, 1941, 1943, 1945, and 1947 as set by the Regents. New general trustees are chosen by a majority of the general trustees. Each successor serves until ten years after the prior term’s end. If someone fills a vacancy, they serve only the rest of that term.

Title 20, §72

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(a)Establishment

There is established in the Smithsonian Institution a bureau, which shall be directed by a board to be known as the Trustees of the National Gallery of Art, whose duty it shall be to maintain and administer the National Gallery of Art and site thereof and to execute such other functions as are vested in the board by this subchapter. The board shall be composed as follows: The Chief Justice of the United States, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, ex officio; and five general trustees who shall be citizens of the United States, to be chosen as hereinafter provided. No officer or employee of the Federal Government shall be eligible to be chosen as a general trustee.

(b)Method of selection; term of office

The general trustees first taking office shall be chosen by the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, subject to the approval of the donor, and shall have terms expiring one each on July 1 of 1939, 1941, 1943, 1945, and 1947, as designated by the Board of Regents. A successor shall be chosen by a majority vote of the general trustees and shall have a term expiring ten years from the date of the expiration of the term for which his predecessor was chosen, except that a successor chosen to fill a vacancy occurring prior to the expiration of such term shall be chosen only for the remainder of such term.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Delegation of Functions by Secretary of State to Director of United States Information Agency Pub. L. 95–426, title II, § 205, Oct. 7, 1978, 92 Stat. 975, as amended by Pub. L. 97–241, title III, § 303(b), Aug. 24, 1982, 96 Stat. 291, provided that: “The Secretary of State may delegate to the Director of the United States Information Agency, with the consent of the Director, the functions vested in the Secretary by section 2(a) of the joint resolution entitled ‘Joint Resolution providing for the

Construction

and maintenance of a National Gallery of Art’, approved March 24, 1937 (20 U.S.C. 72(a)).” [For abolition of United States Information Agency (other than Broadcasting Board of Governors and International Broadcasting Bureau),

Transfer of Functions

, and treatment of references thereto, see section 6531, 6532, and 6551 of Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse.]

§72 Board of Trustees