The department shall serve as or shall determine the depository for all field notes, photographs, negatives, maps, artifacts, or other materials generated or recovered through historic preservation projects supported in whole or in part by the State or taking place on state lands.
Any aviation artifact or any specimen and object of natural and of botanical, ethnological, architectural, historical, or archaeological value or interest, and any book, treatise, or pamphlet relating thereto in the possession of the University of Hawaii, or any other state agency or its political subdivisions, if and when the same is no longer needed for scientific investigation, for study, or for any other purpose, at the request of the Bishop Museum or other qualified museums in this State, shall be transferred and delivered by and with the consent of such department, bureau, or board having possession thereof, to the Bishop Museum or other qualified museum, or exchanged with such museum, and whereupon, the title shall become vested in such museum and shall be held by them; provided that the aviation artifacts or any specimens and objects so transferred are made available at all reasonable times by the museum for study and examination by the officials of the university of such department, bureau, or board and to qualified scholars.
HRS § 6E-6