Definition of a museum.

CFR · 2024-01-01 · US · Title 2

For the purpose of this part: (a) Museum means a public, tribal, or private nonprofit institution which is organized on a permanent basis for essentially educational, cultural heritage, or aesthetic purposes and which, using a professional staff: (1) Owns or uses tangible objects, either animate or inanimate; (2) Cares for these objects; and (3) Exhibits them to the general public on a regular basis. (i) An institution that exhibits objects to the general public for at least 120 days a year shall be deemed to meet this requirement. (ii) An institution that exhibits objects by appointment may meet this requirement if it can establish, in light of the facts under all the relevant circumstances, that this method of exhibition does not unreasonably restrict the accessibility of the institution's exhibits to the general public. (b) The term “museum” in paragraph (a) of this section includes museums that have tangible and digital collections. Museums include, but are not limited to, the following types of institutions, if they otherwise satisfy the provisions of this section: (1) Aquariums; (2) Arboretums; (3) Botanical gardens; (4) Art museums; (5) Children's museums; (6) General museums; (7) Historic houses and sites; (8) History museums; (9) Nature centers; (10) Natural history and anthropology museums; (11) Planetariums; (12) Science and technology centers; (13) Specialized museums; and (14) Zoological parks. (c) For the purposes of this section, an institution uses a professio

official document · source cfr-2024 · id 2:§ 3187.3