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Urging The Council of the City of Philadelphia to hold hearings regarding the Transfer Agreement and to determine whether the City should enter into such Agreement regarding the terms of the Atwater Kent Collection (the "Collection") transfer agreement between the City of Philadelphia and Drexel University in order to ensure adequate stewardship of the Collection and protect the interests of the citizens of Philadelphia.
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WHEREAS, This Council has a responsibility to inform itself, and the public, as best as it is practicably possible, concerning the disposition of City assets and to protect the public's interest in those assets; and
WHEREAS, following the gift to the City by Atwater Kent of the building located at 15 S. 15th St., this Council in 1938 enacted an ordinance establishing the Atwater Kent Museum (the "Museum") to display historical artifacts owned by the City in Center City and to make those artifacts available to the City; and
WHEREAS, The City agreed to make appropriations for the proper supervision, maintenance, upkeep, and extension of the Museum; and
WHEREAS, The Board of the Atwater Kent originally included representatives of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the University of Pennsylvania, the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; and
WHEREAS, The 1938 Deed executed by the City provided that "[v]oluntary contributions, gifts, donations, legacies, devises or bequests may be received. All moneys, except appropriations by the Council of the City of Philadelphia, received by the Board of Trustees shall be held by the said Board for the uses and purposes for which the said Board of Trustees is created . . . ." All contributions, gifts, donations, legacies, devises or bequests received by the Board, subject to conditions stipulated by the donor or donors, shall be so earmarked, and used only for such purposes, in order words, for a museum; an...
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