Chapter CXXIX. *to incorporate the National Gallery and School of Arts in the District of Columbia.* June 15, 1860. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* That there may be established Gallery and school of arts established.in the District
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Chap. CXXIX.— An Act *to incorporate the National Gallery and School of Arts in the District of Columbia.* June 15, 1860. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* That there may be established Gallery and school of arts established.in the District of Columbia by the persons hereinafter named a gallery and school of arts, for the purpose of promoting the improvement of the fine arts, and their application to patriotic purposes, by means of exhibitions, libraries, museum, instruction, and any other practicable operations.
Sec. 2. *And be it further enacted,* That the said institution shall be Institution now to be managed, &c.under the management, direction, and government of a number of trustees, not exceeding twenty-five, to be elected annually by the contributors to the said gallery and school, in such manner and under such limitations and restrictions as may be provided in the by-laws thereof; and the first trustees of the said institution shall consist of the following persons, namely: Horatio Stone, John Cranch, J.
M. Stanly, J. G. Bruff, Robert Bogle, First Trustees.W. W. Corcoran, A. F. Cunningham, T. G. Clemson, J. G. Berret, F. P. Stanton, A. Thomas Smith, H. G. Fant, Charles Eames, B. Ogle Taylor, George W. Riggs, Charles Haskins, Seth Eastman, Samuel F. Vinton, and L. D. Gale, which said trustees and their successors shall be a body politic and corporate, with perpetual succession, by the name and style of “The National Gallery and School of Arts;” by which name and title Name of corporation, powers, &c.the said trustees and their successors shall be competent and capable, in law and equity, to take to themselves and their successors, for the use of the said institution, any estate in any lands, tenements, hereditaments, goods, chattels, moneys, and other effects, by gift, grant, bargain, sale, conveyance, assurance, will, devise, or bequest of any person or persons whatsoever: *Provided,* The same do not exceed, in the whole, the yearly value of fifty thousand dollars and the same property and effects, real and personal, to grant, bargain, sell, convey, assure, demise, and to farm let, and to place out on interest for the use of the said institution; and by the same name to sue and be sued, to plead and be impleaded, in any courts of law and equity; and to make and use a common seal, and the same to break and alter at their pleasure; and generally, by and in the same name, to do and transact all and every the business touching or concerning the premises.
Sec. 3. *And be it further enacted,* That the trustees aforesaid shall Term of office of above named trustees; their powers, &c.hold their offices until the first day of October, eighteen hundred and 36 THIRTY-SIXTH CONGRESS. Sess. I. Ch. 129, 130. 1860.sixty, and until their successors shall be elected. And in the mean time, the said trustees shall pass all necessary ordinances and by-laws for tin-complete organization, government, and administration of the institution herein established.
They may appoint or elect a president and secretary of their own body, and all such officers, professors, or teachers, as to them may seem expedient, and may confer upon them such powers, not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States, as may to them seem suitable to the end in view. They shall provide for the election of their successors on the first day of October, eighteen hundred and sixty, and annually thereafter; but, if from any cause, such elections should not take place at the times herein provided, they may be appointed Conditions of membership, &c.for any other convenient time.
And the said trustees for the first election, and their successors ever thereafter, shall determine and establish the rules and conditions upon which subscribers and contributors to the said gallery and school shall be admitted as members of the said institution, the manner in which they shall vote in the annual elections for trustees, and the privileges they shall enjoy in the said institution, and in the lectures, exhibitions, and other proceedings thereof. A majority of said trustees Quorum.shall constitute a quorum to do business.
Trustees may grant degrees, &c. Sec. 4. *And be it further enacted,* That the said trustees shall have power to grant and confirm to meritorious persons, such degrees in the arts as they may in their by-laws establish; and grant diplomas or certificates, under their common seal, and signed by the president and secretary to authenticate, and perpetuate the same. shall keep books and journals, which shall be open to inspection, &c. Sec. 5. *And be it further enacted,* That it shall be the duty of the trustees to keep regular books or journals, in which shall be entered, under their direction, an account of all their ordinary acts and proceedings; all the by-laws, ordinances, rules, and regulations; a schedule of all the property and effects of every kind which may in any way be vested in the said trustees for the use and benefit of the said institution; and the names of all the subscribers and contributors qualified to vote for trustees, with their respective places of residence.
And the said books or journals shall at all times be open to the inspection and examination of the said subscribers and contributors, and when required by either House of Congress, it shall be the duty of the said trustees to furnish any information respecting the institution and its affairs which may be so required. Corporation not to issue notes, &c., as currency. Sec. 6. *And be it further enacted,* That nothing in this act shall be so construed as to authorize said corporation to issue any note, token, device, scrip, or other evidence of debt to be used as a currency.
Act may be amended, &c. Sec. 7. *And be it further enacted,* That this act may at any time be altered, amended, or repealed by the Congress of the United States. Corporation not to distribute works of art by lottery, &c. Sec. 8. *And be it further enacted,* That it shall not be lawful for the corporation hereby created to adopt any system of lottery or chances, as a means of making a revenue, or in distributing any works of art. Approved, June 15, 1860.