36 U.S.C. § 152103: Purposes

honoring citizens, mining leaders, miners, prospectors, teachers, scientists, engineers, inventors, governmental leaders, and other individuals, who have helped to make this country great by their outstanding contributions to the establishment, development, advancement, or improvement of mining in the United States; perpetuating the memory of those individuals and recording their contributions and achievements by the erection and maintenance of buildings, monuments, and edifices considered appropriate as a lasting memorial; fostering, promoting, and encouraging a better understanding of the origins and growth of mining, especially in the United States, and the part mining has played in changing the economic, social, and scientific aspects of our country; establishing and maintaining a library and museum for collecting and preserving for posterity, the history of those honored by the corporation, together with a documentation of their accomplishments and contributions to mining, including such items as mining pictures, paintings, books, papers, documents, scientific data, relics, mementos, artifacts, and things relating to those items; cooperating with other mining organizations that are actively engaged and interested in similar projects; and engaging in any other activity necessary or proper to accomplish any of the purposes in this section.