Court Cases. United States v. McClain No.75-368, 1976

Sherman Lee actively lobbied various departments and elected bodies of the United States federal government concerning issues of importance to the Cleveland Museum of Art. The museum's legal council kept him informed of changes in federal law or regulations, and his involvement with the American Association of Museums and the Association of Art Museum Directors kept him civicly active. He corresponded with different departments in the federal government on a variety of issues affecting the museum, the most important of which, and one that came up frequently, was the question of taxes. The Cleveland Museum of Art, as a private museum, had to fight to maintain its tax status as a publicly supported institution. This issue appears in the records beginning in 1963 through 1971. The museum also lobbied to keep membership dues and donations of artwork tax deductible. Of particular concern was the Tax Reform Act of 1969, which attempted to reduce the size of the deduction a donor of artwork could receive. Museums successfully lobbied against the measure. Another governmental issue affecting the museum was new regulations forbidding trade with China after 1950, including the purchase of art, as a method of trying to reduce Communist power in China. The State Department's division of Foreign Assets Control (FAC) enforced the Trading with the Enemy Act. The regulation hampered Lee's efforts to expand the Asian art collection by restricting trade and requiring the museum to provide information to the FAC regarding art objects that had already been purchased to prove that the sale of the objects did not benefit China. Lee also helped the Bureau of Customs appraise Asian artwork seized from dealers around the country. The severity of the trade restriction was eased in 1972 and normal trade relations status was implemented between the United States and China in 1980.

The Cleveland Museum of Art benefited from government programs in a number of areas. The museum participated in the Exchange-Visitor program, headed by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in the State Department which provided for the exchange of curators and researchers with those at overseas museums. In 1964 CMA exchanged the assistant curator for research and publications, Rémy G. Saisselin with Beatrix von Ragué, director of the Museum Für Ostasiatische Kunst at the State Museum in Berlin. Lee later arranged for Vinod P. Dwivedi, curator at the National Museum in New Dehli to come to Cleveland in 1967. CMA ended its participating in the program in 1968. The exhibitions department of the United States Information Agency brought the little known but important John Singleton Copley painting, "Mrs. Humphrey Devereux" to the United States from the National Gallery of New Zealand for conservation work. The agency then organized a national tour of the newly restored painting that included Cleveland, in 1965, prior to the painting's return to New Zealand

In addition to working with different governmental departments, Sherman Lee kept a close watch on legislation that might affect the museum. He lobbied for the creation of the National Foundation of the Arts and Humanities, which was established in 1965. In 1975 he testified before a joint hearing of the House Committee on Education and Labor and the Senate Committee on Education regarding the Arts and Artifacts Indemnity Act, which would provide insurance coverage to museums trying to host large exhibitions. The records in this series were brought together by Lee's office under the heading, "U.S. Government." The series begins with the records organized by federal department name, and ends with records relating to legislation, congress, and one U. S. court case. Federal departments are organized alphabetically, with divisions within each department filed under the department name. Information on the Visitor-Exchange program is filed under the Department of State and includes the museum's application to the program and some correspondence with potential exchangées. Correspondence about the prohibition on trade with Communist China is located with the records filed under the Department of Treasury. The material documents the Cleveland Museum of Art's efforts to gather the provence of their own Asian artwork to prove that none was smuggled out of China, and their difficulties in acquiring Chinese art from the Far East. The records also contain Lee's appraisals of smuggled artwork seized by customs officials. Correspondence with the Internal Revenue Service is filed under the Department of Treasury and includes some appraisals performed by Lee for the IRS, although the bulk of the records relate to tax regulations. Documents include announcements from the American Association of Museums, correspondence with the museum's legal council at Hahn, Loeser, Freedheim, Dean & Wellman, and with the Washington attorney and lobbyist, Kenneth Liles. The United States Information Agency file contains information and photographs of the John Singleton Copley portrait, "Mrs. Humphrey Devereux." The last folder of records relating to federal agencies contains a small amount of correspondence with miscellaneous government offices.

The second half of the series contains records relating to legislation, congress, and one court case. Records concerning specific legislation are organized chronologically. Correspondence is with elected officials, Kenneth Liles, the Washington attorney and lobbyist, CMA legal council, and other museums. The files also contain news releases from the American Association of Museums and articles and clippings about the legislation in question. They are followed by chronological correspondence with members of the House of Representatives and the Senate about legislation not sufficient enough to warrant a separate folder. It relates mostly to funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. It also contains Lee's personal requests to representatives and senators to end the Vietnam War. Lee's correspondence with Ohio state legislators is located in series 1. One folder regarding the court case U. S. v. McClain is about a group of dealers who were prosecuted for illegally bringing cultural property into the United States from other countries. The file contains information about the case that Lee requested from the attorneys. Legislation and further information about the illicit export, import, and transfer of ownership of cultural property, including the Unesco resolution and Lee's testimony before congress, are located in series 5 under the Association of Art Museum Directors. The AAMD records also contain additional tax legislation information.