Dan Harlow

On September 28, 2007 the GAO (Government Accountability Office) released a grim report detailing the state of the Smithsonian Institute which is the world’s largest museum complex.

From the GAO Report:

[The Smithsonian’s] annual operating and capital program revenues come from its own private trust fund assets and federal appropriations, with the majority of funds for facilities coming from federal appropriations. In 2005, GAO reported that the Smithsonian’s current funding would not be sufficient to cover its estimated $2.3 billion in facilities projects through 2013 and recommended that the Smithsonian Board of Regents, its governing body, develop and implement a funding plan. As requested, GAO described changes in the condition of the Smithsonian’s facilities and estimate for project costs since 2005, analyzed the Smithsonian’s steps taken and challenges regarding protecting and managing its real property portfolio, and assessed the Smithsonian’s efforts to develop and implement strategies to fund its facilities’ projects. GAO reviewed relevant documents and interviewed officials from the Smithsonian and other organizations.

Recommendations for improvement were “increasing awareness of security issues; include privately funded projects in its capital plan, and comprehensively analyze funding options and report to Congress and the Office of Management and Budget on a funding strategy. The Smithsonian concurred with the report’s recommendations. “

While the Smithsonian does agree with the GAO report, officials for the museum take issue with how the GAO believes those improvements should be made. A key sticking point is that it has been recommended to charge admission to the museum because:

From the AP:

… upkeep has always been paid for by the federal government. The Smithsonian Board of Regents has considered charging admission three times in about a dozen years and always rejected the idea, she said.

“It has always been Congress’ responsibility to care for the national collections and the buildings,” Smithsonian spokeswoman Linda St. Thomas said.

Charging admission is believed to not only be of limited income potential but it also flies in the face of tradition where everyone has been able to view the collections at all Smithsonian museums free of charge. The GAO counters by stating that board of regents only has only ever looked at each possibility independently and not as a collective whole which overall could generate much more income than just one single idea.

So how bad are things at the Smithsonian? First you have to appreciate the scale of the operation.

As stated earlier, the Smithsonian is the world’s largest museum and research complex. The institute employees thousands of people from maintenance workers to Ph D’s , restoration artists, software engineers, cafeteria workers and tour guides. With salaries and expenses totaling roughly 516 million dollars (in 2006) all paid via a millions salaries and expenses appropriation, these employees provide the means to which anyone can come see masterpieces such as the collected works of James McNeill Whistler, the Apollo 11 Command Module, the painted wood face masks of the Guro peoples in Africa and even the Hope Diamond.

With such a diverse and ever changing collection the scope of the Smithsonian is enormous and involves not only an incredibly dedicated team of professionals to keep it all running but also a fair amount of tax payer dollars to keep the doors open. And keeping the doors open for nearly 10 million square feet of space has been getting harder and harder each year.

Problems with the Smithsonian’s facilities since 2005 have continued to cause access restrictions and damage, and continue to threaten collections. Moreover, many long-term facilities problems remain. According to Smithsonian officials, repairs to some of these problems are scheduled over the next several years. At the same time, the Smithsonian’s cost estimate for facilities projects through fiscal year 2013 has increased since April 2005, from $2.3 billion to $2.5 billion for the same time period.

Some repairs have been made such as copper flashing being installed at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (Freer and Sackler Galleries) to prevent water leaks and also the construction of a unit called Pod 5 which is fire code compliant and now houses all the alcohol-preserved specimens of the Museum of Natural History. Other repairs have been mere band aids such as when at the National Zoo’s sea lion and seal exhibit those two tanks were discovered to have leaks totaling 140,000 gallons per day which flowed directly into the Washington D.C. sewer system. The Zoo discovered that though the “structures themselves appeared sound, the source of most of the water loss was a result of the old underground supply and return piping” and temporary supply lines were installed in the seal pool at a cost of $297,000. The sea lion pool has yet to be fixed and daily water loss is at 110,000 gallons per day for both pools.

The list of problems yet to be addressed at all is extensive, to say the least.

• Power capacity issues caused by inadequate electrical systems have forced the Air and Space Museum to occasionally close galleries to visitors, according to the museum’s director. The electrical systems at the Air and Space museum were installed in 1975 and are obsolete and at the end of their useful life. Complete replacement is needed to avoid outages from equipment failure.

• Recurring leaks in a Museum of African Art gallery that held an exhibit called Art of the Personal Object forced the museum to temporarily close the gallery several times from 2004 through 2006 and take down part of the exhibits collections until the leaks were repaired, according to the museum’s director. Smithsonian officials noted that addressing such leaks is a regular maintenance issue.

• Chronic leaks in the roof of the Cultural Resources Center at Suitland, Maryland, which was completed in 1998 and opened in 1999 to hold collections of the Museum of the American Indian, have forced staff to place plastic over several shelving units used to store collections, such as a set of wooden boats that includes an Eskimo kayak from Greenland and a rare Yahgan dugout canoe from Tierra del Fuego, according to officials at this facility. The plastic sheeting limits visitors’ visual access to the boats during open houses, which provide Native Americans and other groups with access to the collections. One museum official stated that it was also an embarrassment during open houses to have to explain that a roof leak threatens collections. According to Smithsonian officials, the building’s roof is a spiral shape constructed with copper plate and compositional panels soldered together. However, the soldered joints on this complex roof design were not constructed well by the subcontractor responsible for building the roof. According to a Smithsonian official, the Smithsonian has worked with the company identified by the roofing manufacturer to assume the warranty for the roof to make repairs. While some of the costs to repair the roof were covered by warranty, others were not and were paid for by the Smithsonian.

• A lack of temperature and humidity control at the Museum of Air and Space’s collection storage facilities in Suitland, Maryland, which have large doors that do not seal and let in rain, has caused corrosion to historic airplanes and other collections and increased the cost of restoring these items for exhibit, according to museum officials.

• The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden’s building is not well insulated and is the Smithsonian’s largest (on a per-square-foot basis) consumer of energy; in addition, its façade is leaking in places.

• The National Zoo is currently unable to provide many of its animals with the state-of-the-art habitats required to meet the zoo’s goal of providing the highest quality animal care. Many of the zoo’s animal areas and facilities are in relatively poor condition. For example, some of the zoo’s facilities, including the bird house, small mammals house, and the reptile house, were built in the 1920s, while others, including the lion and tiger area and the ape house, were built in the 1960s. Many of these facilities do not meet current code requirements (buildings are brought up to code at the time they are renovated) and have many failing systems.

• The Director of the Museum of African Art stated that leaks in a skylight since 2005 have at times forced the museum to cover the skylight with plastic to protect the building and its collections (see fig. 11). The Director stated that the skylights have leaked for many years, were repaired in 2004, and started leaking again in 2005. In addition, according to the Director, in 2006, leaks in the roof membrane of the pavilion by the main visitor entrance forced the museum to put up plastic around the entrance and remove art objects from the area, reducing the visual appeal of the museum’s entrance.

And the list continues. In addition, two museum and facility directors spoke of alarming “near misses” — events related to inadequate facilities that could have been catastrophic to collections had they occurred at different times.

According to Sackler Gallery officials, in October 2006, a major leak unexpectedly occurred in a holding area used by the museum to store exhibits on loan three weeks before $500 million worth of art arrived to be held there. If the leak had occurred while the art was being stored in this space, the art could have been destroyed. The leak was caused by ongoing problems with the steam system used to provide humidification to the Quadrangle complex, known as the condensate system. Problems with this system—which the gallery shares with the other facilities that make up the Quadrangle, including the Museum of African Art—have caused unpredictable leaks throughout the complex since 1993, continually threatening collections. Museum officials stated that staff must routinely spend time each morning searching for new leaks in order to move or cover collections to keep them safe—time that could be used for programmatic efforts—and several officials emphasized they have been lucky to avoid major damage to the collections thus far.

In order to make all the needed repairs, the latest estimate puts the total at 2.5 billion dollars. “The Smithsonian’s estimated revitalization and new construction costs are driven in part by the need to modernize or add systems, such as fire detection and alarm and security systems, and to comply with newer life safety code requirements, such as those for handicapped accessibility to buildings and restrooms. Maintenance costs include staff costs, minor repair and maintenance projects, and other contracts, supplies, materials, and equipment for Smithsonian’s maintenance program.”

Another alarming issue is that of internal security with reports of vandalism and even theft having been reported. A key component for regulating the safety of the collections is staffing; something the Smithsonian has had a difficult time fulfilling. The graph on the left shows that of the 10 facilities listed, 5 showed a decrease of at least 25% in security personal. “The Smithsonian has begun employing gallery attendants in an effort to help fill security gaps and is constantly advertising vacancies for security guards to help deal with high turnover, St. Thomas said.

So what can be done? Though it is unlikely the museum will be closing it’s doors anytime soon, long term problems exist for the Institute. One interesting piece of information which has yet to be reported on is that the Independent Review Committee (created at the request of the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents in June 2007) set up examining the former Smithsonian secretary Lawrence M. Small’s compensation and expenses and related board governance. In 2007 Small received $915,698 in compensation. The report found that private funds raised annually from donors declined over the former secretary’s tenure, from January 2000 through March 2007. In addition, the IRC found that business revenue also dropped during the former secretary’s tenure, while funds from federal appropriations and governmental grants increased more than 60 percent.

While Congress has authorized major new museums and facilities, Congress has moved away from fully funding the construction of these facilities beginning in 1982. At that time, Congress authorized $36.5 million for the construction of the Museum of African Art and a Center for Eastern Art and required that the Smithsonian pay for the balance of the project with other funds. In 1989, Congress required that not more than two-thirds of the total cost of the Museum of the American Indian come from federal appropriations. More recently, in 2003, Congress also required that 50 percent of the cost to construct the Museum of African American History and Culture come from nonfederal sources and the other 50 percent from federal appropriations.

Basically what is at hand here is really an issue of fair oversight and reasonable budget limitations. The spirit of the Smithsonian is the “establishment for the increase & diffusion of knowledge among men” and though the Smithsonian is partially private, it is also a public institute. Should the museum be unable to provide sufficient funding for operations it is up to congress to either appropriate the funds or employ governance to allow the museum to seek and obtain funding from the private sector.

Another key issue concerning congress is that bills such as requiring an African American wing are introduced only to appease certain voters (in this African Americans) yet little thought is put into how the Smithsonian will be able to fund the exhibits. Politically speaking funds for the Smithsonian have been siphoned off for political advantages - even if the politics in question are noble in spirit. In other words, the Smithsonian has become a sort of backwater wasteland where “feel good” politics can be dumped and forgotten while well educated and hard working individuals are left to pick up the pieces. And while it seems to be true that Lawrence M. Small ran a poor (even corrupted) ship during his tenure, the fact remains that the museum needs help.

To put this lengthy article into context, try to recall the story of how injured veterans returning from Iraq have been treated by the VA. In that example good men and women who have served with honor and distinction for a war they may or may not agree with have been left to fend for themselves now that they are home. To be blunt, the government used them and then have tossed them away. Though the Smithsonian is not worth even the value of one human life, it is part of the heritage and culture of the United States that is worth fighting for. For too long now we have allowed the government to run fast and loose with little to no accountability to the consequences of morality or consequence and as the years and decades pass we begin to see the cracks in the armor.

The Smithsonian is an integral part of our nations heritage and one of the most important museums and research institutes in the world. There is no excuse for either the government to tie off needed funding or those who work for the board to fill their on coffers at the expense of tax payers. The Smithsonian is our institute - it is free to visit for everyone either black, white or yellow. Should the Smithsonian be allowed to deteriorate any further would just be a glaring example of how far we have let this country go. With our troops returning home to no health care, our roads and bridges falling apart, our schools failing to meet the expectations of even some third world nations and now even our own history and art growing dusty and cracked, when will there be enough evidence for the average American to become outraged and demand some sort of change?

The purpose of art is to challenge the intellect and I believe it’s time we let that happen again.

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