NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1973 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 623

HOUSE BILL 1154

 

 

AN ACT TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS AS MATCHING FUNDS TO ASSIST IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF A BUILDING TO BE KNOWN AS THE CHEROKEE INDIAN MUSEUM AND CULTURAL CENTER.

 

Whereas, The Cherokee Historical Association, Inc., a non-profit corporation chartered by the State of North Carolina, active since 1949, has presented the outdoor drama "Unto These Hills" since 1956 to 2,944,966 people since 1950, and the attendance at the Ocanoluftee Indian Village, which opened in 1952 has been 2,235,837; and

Whereas, for each of the past five years attendance at the small Museum of the Cherokee Indian has run above 60,000 people and there is a need and demand for the enlargement of this museum in order to provide for many Cherokee Indian artifacts which are now in storage, and in order to provide for the orderly expansion and development of the Museum; and

Whereas, plans for such development, including a new museum building, have been prepared after adequate study, by a Joint Committee of The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, The Cherokee Historical Association, Inc., and the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, a non-profit North Carolina corporation, to construct the new museum building referred to, in order that the artifacts, objects of Indian art and culture, relics, documents, crafts and information incident to the language and culture of the Cherokee Indian may be preserved and cared for and made available for public enjoyment and enlightenment; and

Whereas, the organizations from which the members of said planning and sponsoring Joint Committee were chosen and authorized to make said plans are able and willing to fund in large part the cost of constructing and equipping said museum building, estimated at $820,000; and

Whereas, said organizations are in position to match dollar for dollar from their own and other sources any appropriation made by the State of North Carolina, any amount appropriated by the State as a grant-in-aid for said project; Now, therefore,

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1.  There is hereby appropriated from the General Fund for the purpose of assisting in the construction of a building, to be known as the Cherokee Indian Museum and Cultural and Cultural Center, in or near the town of Cherokee, in Swain County, North Carolina, and on lands owned by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the sum of two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000), subject to the raising and commitment of a like amount by the Cherokee Historical Association, Inc. and others after July 1, 1973, said appropriation to be a grant-in-aid for said purpose.

Sec. 2.  This act shall become effective upon its ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 18th day of May, 1973.