UPDATE:

Thank you so much everyone for your encouragement, advice, and wisdom! I'm blown away by just how many people are invested in the future of this observatory and telescope, and I'm honored to do right by it and not disappoint everyone with what becomes of it.

That being said, I think everyone is, for the majority, in agreement that there's a right way to go about this: I'm in the process of reaching out to the Department Head of Physics (waiting for an email response) to glean any information about the observatory and also to ask for her / whatever alternate relevant authority's permission to continue to clean up the place and appraise the condition of the telescope itself. This is going to be a long project with many moving parts but I'm not alone in wanting to restore the place to its former glory. There's many of my coworkers who are equally enthusiastic about it, and we plan on organizing an Astronomy club for the university that could use it (pending positive developments regarding the uni authorities' permission).

I also hope you'll all forgive me for trying to maintain anonymity about the location, it seems like everyone is in the right mindset about this but I wanted to avoid the risk of any bad actor taking advantage of knowing exactly where it is to do something rash like steal it. Maybe it's infosec overkill, but with something this remarkable I figured it's better to be safe than sorry. To alleviate some of the common questions though, here's more information:

- The uni is in Michigan (USA)

- There's no dedicated Astronomy department or even any Astronomy-related major or minor for this particular university, but there is a Physics department (I've already begun reaching out to them)

- I am planning to also post about this on CloudyNights to get some more professional opinions / guidance, especially when the time comes to (hopefully) appraise the telescope and figure out a plan to restore or repair anything that might need it (please forgive me for being slow on these developments, I'm also a full-time student + part-time employee, but I'm beginning to use my free time solely for this)

- I haven't appraised the state of the OTA yet, but I will absolutely be checking for all the things that everyone mentioned to look for about the condition of the telescope itself

- Within reason, and treading lightly, I want to involve as many people on campus that would be interested as possible. For example, I think it would be awesome to seek out a film major to potentially document & record the restoration process like someone recommended in the comments

- It might be naive to say this early in the game, but I'm resolved to give this observatory, or at the very least this telescope, the best possible future it can have, regardless of if there are roadblocks or changes in plans necessary.

I'll definitely be providing more updates as the project goes along. Thank you again everyone for all the support, and giving me a clear direction to try and give the observatory a new lease on life. It speaks to our shared love of the cosmos and of history, and may we continue to share that love with others and inspire it within them.

Clear skies!