Constitution and By-laws

of

The International Council of Museums

THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF MUSEUMS

C/O COUNSELOR FOR MUSEUMS

UNESCO HOUSE — 19 AVENUE KLEBER

PARIS. FRANCE

CM: 3
 CONSTITUTION

ARTICLE I

Name and Headquarters

Section I. The name of this association shall be the
International Council of Museums (le Conseil International
des Musées).
Section 2. The Council Headquarters shall be in
Paris, France.
ARTICLE II
Section I. The purpose
of this Council is to provide
an
appropriate organization to further international
cooperation among museums and to be the coordinating
and representative international body furthering museum
interests.

Section 2. The Council, in order to further

implement
such a
of international cooperation among
program
museums, shall promote the organization, within each
nation where museums play a part in educational life, of
committees of museum leaders on international coopera-
tion among museums. In each such nation where associa-
tions of museums or similar bodies widely representative
of museum interests have already been organized, such
organizations shall be invited by the Council to appoint
a committee among museums to
represent such countries.
In all other countries the museum leaders in such countries
shall be urged by the Council to create such museum
associations and, pending the creation of such associa-
tions, the Council may invite a selected list of museum
leaders to organize such a committee to represent the
museum interests of their country in the International
Council of Museums.
The word "museums" includes all collections, open to
the public, of artistic, technical, scientific, historical or
archaeological material, including zoos and botanical
gardens, but excluding libraries, except in so far as they
maintain permanent exhibition rooms.
In order that the National Committees on International
Cooperation among Museums may be as widely repre-
sentative as possible of museum interest in their respective
countries, it is strongly urged that there be included with-
in their membership all fields of museum activity as above
defined as well as representation on as wide a geographic
basis as possible.

Section 3. The Council shall further exchange of cul-

tural information across frontiers by (a) international loan
exhibitions, (b) loans, gifts and exchanges of museum pub-
iications, objects and specimens between museums where
it is legally possible, (c) international exchange of museum
personnel, (d) traveling fellowships and international mu-
seum training of selected personnel, (e) facilitation of
travel by museum personnel and the shipment of museum
material, works of art, traveling collections and publica-
fions across international frontiers and (f) promoting and
protecting the activity and the welfare of museums gen-
erally and their attached responsibilities of education,
inquiry and research throughout the world.

ARTICLE III
Section The Council shall comprise all members of
I.
all Committees, organized within each one of the nations
of the world, on International Cooperation among
Museums. National committees shall be limited to a max-
¡mum of fifteen members.

Section 2. be elected to the

Honorary members may
Council from among who shall be deemed
those persons
by the members to have rendered conspicuous service in
the interests of the Council.

ARTICLE IV
Section I. The Officers of the Council, chosen from
itsmembership, shall consist of a President, three Vice
Presidents, a treasurer, a Corresponding Secretary, and
a Recording Secretary.

Section 2. The Officers and members of the Executive

Committee shall be elected by ballot by the members at
their general conference, and each shall serve for two
years, or until a successor has been elected at the next
biennial meeting.
Section 3. Any vacancy in office shall be filled by
ballot by the Executive Committee from the members of
the Council.
Section 4. The powers and duties of the officers shall
be defined by the Executive Committee.

ARTICLE V
The Executive Committee
Section I. There shall be an Executive Committee of
at least fifteen persons which shall consist of the seven
officers herein before enumerated, the Chairman of the
Advisory Board and at least seven additional members.
The Executive Committee shall have power to co-opt up
to three additional members. Co-opted members shall
serve only until the next biennial meeting.
Section 2. The Executive Committee may transact
any and all business for the Council when the Council is
not in session.

ARTICLE VI
Section I. There shall be an Advisory Board which
shall consist of the Chairmen of all the National Commit-
tees for International Cooperation among Museums, in-
eluding those still to be organized as well as those that
have been.
Section 2. Such Advisory Board shall elect a Chair-
man who shall be ex-officio a member of the Executive
Committee and such other Officers and adopt such rules
of procedure as it chooses.
 ARTICLE VII

Voting and Elections

Section I. Each member of the Council shall have a

right to one vote to be cast in(or by proxy).

person
The By-laws shall also provide for permission to vote
by letter.
Section 2. All elections shall be by ballot.
Section 3. Results of any election shall be announced
at the Biennial Meeting, as shall be lists of members
elected during the preceding period.

ARTICLE VIII
Section I. The Council shall hold
one meeting each

hvo years, irrespective of how

others are held, which
many
shall be known as the Biennial Meeting. The date and
place of such meeting shall be announced six months in
advance thereof. Simultaneously with the Biennial Meet-
ing there may also be held a General Conference open
to all professional museum personnel.
At such General Conferences sectional meetings on
art, science, history and such other subjects of special-
ized interest as may be deemed appropriate may be
arranged for and programmed under the leadership of
special committees to be named by the Executive Com-
mittee for this purpose.
Special meetings of the Council may be
Section 2.
called by the Executive Committee on at least forty days'
notice. All business to be transacted shall be specified in
the call for the meeting.
Section 3. The Executive Committee shall meet imme-
diately before each Council Meeting and on such other
occasions as are deemed necessary by the President.
Section 4. Twenty-five per cent of the whole member-
ship, including proxies, of the Council or of the Advisory
Board, shall form a quorum.
Section 5. Five members shall constitute a quorum at
meetings of the Executive Committee. Any member of
the Executive Committee may appoint a proxy to act in
his place and stead.
Minutes of the proceedings at meetings of
Section 6.
the Council and of the Executive Committee shall be
distributed to members before the succeeding meetings.

ARTICLE IX
Section
I. The Constitution of the Council may be
amended at any meeting by a majority vote of ali the
members voting in person or by letter or by proxy, pro-
vided the proposed amendment shall have been submitted
to all members at least two months previous to the meet-
ing at which action is to be taken.
The By-laws of the Council may be made
Section 2.
or amended by a majority vote of the members present
at the meeting or by letter or by proxy from them, pro-
vided that the proposed amendment or By-law shall have
been given to all members at least two months before
the meeting at which action is to be taken.
 BY-LAWS

CHAPTER I

Membership
Section I. Any duly accredited member of the Com-
mittee for International Cooperation among Museums
proposed in writing for membership by the chairman of
such Committee upon payment of the appropriate fee,
shall become a member of the Council. Annual dues shall
be four dollars U.S. or one pound sterling.
Section 2. Any member who is in arrears in payment
of dues may, at the discretion of the Executive Com-
mittee, be dropped from membership in the Council.
Upon payment of such arrears he will be eligible for
re-election.

CHAPTER II
Administrative
Section I. The Executive Committee may appoint a
necessary administrative staff and fix their remuneration
and duties and provide them with working quarters.
Section 2. The Executive Committee is empowered
to acquire, hold and disburse funds in the name of the
Council for any of the objects enumerated in the Consti-
tution and By-laws.

CHAPTER III
Election of Officers
Section I. The Advisory Board shall prepare a list of
nominations for each Biennial Meeting of fhe Executive
Committee and of the Council for renomination of officers
or nomination of new officers. This list shall constitute a
regular panel and must be approved by a majority of the
members of the Advisory Board, which in this way will
form a nominating committee.
Section 2. This list of nominations shall be mailed to
each member of the Council at least four months before
the Biennial Meeting. Any five members of the Advisory
Board may forward to the Recording Secretary of the
Council other nominations for any or
all offices. All such
nominations reaching the Recording Secretary at least
ninety days before the Biennial Meeting and by him
immediately forwarded to the Chairman of the Advisory
Board shall be incorporated alphabetically in the final
ballot. The final ballot shall then be printed and mailed
to members of the Council at least sixty days before the
Biennial Meeting.
Section 3. At the Biennial Meeting of the Executive
Committee the ballots shall be counted and the candi-
dates receiving the highest number of votes shall be
declared elected at the Biennial Meeting of the Council.
The ballots shall be closed at the call to order of the
Executive Committee's meeting.
 CHAPTER IV
Financial Details
Section I. No pecuniary obligation shall be con-
tracted by the Council without the sanction of the
Executive Committee.
Section 2. Officers designated by the Executive Com-
mittee shall be bonded by the Council under a reliable
bonding organization in such amounts as the Executive
Committee may determine.
Section 3. The Treasurer shall deposit any funds of
the Council in bank or banks approved by the Executive
Committee and shall not invest them without due authori-
zation by the Executive Committee.
Section 4. At each Biennial Meeting of the Council
the Treasurer's accounts for the two preceding fiscal
years, duly audited by a certified public accountant to
the close of each year shall be submitted to the Council
for consideration.