Great post, and 10/10 for outstanding usage of Chidi .gifs!
I personally love the Jefferson description of people working for the public trust as public property. One of the many reasons I came to Temple's Public History program was because I believed in the connection between public history and public service. The subsequent connection between public service and its ethical implications, which you outlined well above, is where things seem to fall into the moral/ethical gray areas for many institutions.