The Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum of the University of Washington is hereby constituted the state natural history and anthropology museum as a repository for the preservation, exhibition, interpretation, and conservation of documents and objects of a systematic anthropological, geological, and zoological character for the state.

Effective date—1985 c 29: "This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety, the support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect on June 30, 1985." [ 1985 c 29 s 3.]

This museum may receive all such above named documents or material for preservation and exhibition from any private person under such rules and regulations as the board of regents of the University of Washington may deem proper to make for the care of the aforesaid museum.

The board of regents may provide, by rule or regulation, for:

(1) The permanent acquisition of documents or materials on loan to the state museum at the University of Washington, if the documents or materials have not been claimed by the owner thereof within ninety days after notice is sent by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the owner at his or her last known address by the board of regents and if the certified letter be returned because it could not be delivered to the addressee, public notice shall be published by the University of Washington once each week during two successive weeks in a newspaper circulating in the city of Seattle and the county of King describing the unclaimed documents or materials, giving the name of the reputed owner thereof and requesting all persons who may have any knowledge of the whereabouts of the owner to contact the office of the museum of the University of Washington: PROVIDED HOWEVER, That more than one item may be described in each of the notices;

(2) The return to the rightful owner of documents or materials in the possession of the museum, which documents or materials are determined to have been stolen: PROVIDED, That any person claiming to be the rightful legal owner of the documents or materials who wishes to challenge the determination by the board shall have the right to commence a declaratory judgment action pursuant to chapter 7.24 RCW in the superior court for King county to determine the validity of his or her claim of ownership to the documents or materials.

Documents or materials acquired under the provisions of RCW 27.40.034 may be sold, or may be traded for other documents or materials. The proceeds from the sale of any such documents or materials may be used to acquire additional documents or materials or may be used to defray the cost of operating the museum.

The board of regents of the University of Washington ex officio shall have full charge and management of the state museum hereby created.