When used in this chapter, the following words or terms have the following meanings unless the context indicates otherwise.

(1) Historical Artifacts--The tangible remains of existing and past inhabitants of, and visitors to, the state of Texas.

(2) Records--Documents that are written, either by hand or mechanical impression, that provide important information related to the history of Texas.

(3) Documents--Written letters, diaries, journals, books, photographs, drawn pictures, or any other material accounts or portrayals of information related to the history of Texas.

(4) Acquisition--The purchase or other necessary expenditures associated with obtaining, transporting, packaging, and preparing documents, records, or historical artifacts for perpetual preservation, including cataloguing, collecting, analyzing, conserving, excavating, or curating. Ownership of all materials will be by the State of Texas.

(5) Museum--The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, or any public or private institution that is organized on a permanent basis for mainly educational or aesthetic purposes, uses a professional staff, owns or uses tangible objects, whether animate or inanimate, cares for those objects and exhibits them to the public on a regular basis for at least 120 days a year, and has as a primary purpose the curation or display of documents, records, or historical artifacts important to Texas history. Such institutions must be certified by the commission's Curatorial Facility Certification Program to hold state-associated held-in-trust collections, in accordance with Chapter 29 of this title (relating to Management and Care of Artifacts and Collections).

(6) Repository--Any publicly or privately supported institution that has as its primary purpose the curation for public benefit of documents, records, or historical artifacts important to Texas history. Such institutions must be certified by the commission's Curatorial Facility Certification Program to hold state-associated held-in-trust collections, in accordance with Chapter 29 of this title.

(7) Emergency acquisition--That the decision to purchase documents, records, or historical artifacts must be made before the next scheduled meeting of the commission. Such decisions would be necessary because the documents, records, or artifacts are available for immediate sale and are not likely to be available for acquisition at the next scheduled commission meeting. The decision to make an emergency acquisition will be made by the executive director with the advice of the chair of the commission.

Source Note: The provisions of this §14.3 adopted to be effective January 25, 2001, 26 TexReg 759; amended to be effective September 2, 2013, 38 TexReg 5710