Objects
The Meridian Athenaeum is established for public benefit through the acquisition, preservation, study, interpretation, and responsible return of objects and records of historical, scientific, cultural, artistic, and custodial significance. This includes objects whose significance is not currently expressible in standard institutional terms.
Public benefit
The institution advances its objects through: maintaining a public register of selected accessions; providing research access to partner organisations and qualified researchers; supporting conservation science and translation; facilitating return and repatriation where appropriate; and maintaining the custody and stability of objects that cannot safely be held elsewhere.
Public benefit is understood broadly. The Athenaeum recognises that the beneficiaries of its custodial work may include communities, entities, and individuals not typically reached by conventional museum programming.
Non-standard activities
Some activities of the Athenaeum — including frame-stability maintenance, ontological survey, and cross-frame custody — do not map cleanly onto the standard framework for museum charitable objects. The Athenaeum holds these to be within its objects on the basis that they are necessary for the responsible custody of accessions that would otherwise be at risk.