-- -Time flies like the wind. Fruit flies like a banana. Stranger things have - -happened but none stranger than this. Does your driver's license say Organ -Donor?Black holes are where God divided by zero. Listen to me! We are all- -individuals! What if this weren't a hypothetical question? [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2002 10:07:13 -0800 From: Norma Shulman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Steve Orr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Firefighters mistakenly tear apart car during drill Steve, Would you post this one, also? Some of your list members may want to express an opinion on this issue. By the way, the Framingham Nutting book with the highest estimated value (4,000-6,000) is scattered in a Skinner "discovery" auction of hundreds of miscellaneous items, most valued under $1,000. Norma ______________ Nutting [paintings] on auction block By Peter Reuell Saturday, November 9, 2002 FRAMINGHAM - The fate of a potentially valuable collection of historic materials will be decided next week, when library trustees meet to decide whether to go along with a request to delay the sale. Selectmen unanimously voted this week to ask the Board of Trustees to delay a planned auction of the items, but the vote carries little, if any, weight. As an independently elected board, the trustees are not bound by selectmen decisions, library Director Tom Gilchrist said, meaning trustees could opt to go forward with the sale. The items to be auctioned are one of the largest collections of Wallace Nutting material in MetroWest. Nutting, a preacher, photographer, author and entrepreneur, lived for a time in Framingham, but the town is more notable as the site of factories where Nutting produced furniture and reproductions of his distinctive hand-tinted photographs. The items, donated to the library more than three decades ago, mainly consists of more than 2,000 glass slides used by Nutting in his frequent public exhibition of his photographs. "Basically, because we're not really a museum or an archive we're not really prepared to display or show this material to the public," Gilchrist said. Following Thursday night's vote, trustees called a special meeting, which will be held Nov. 12, starting at 7 p.m., in the Trustee's Room at the library. Auction opponent Deb Cleveland was heartened by the selectmen's vote, but careful not give up her efforts to keep the material in Framingham. "It's good news, but it's only one step. It's like the first down," she said. "The resolution isn't there yet. "Things like this, they're really owned by the public," she added. "When it's attached to the very fabric of Framingham history, it really does belong to all of us on a higher level." People against the sale have suggested the items may be worth more if the town held onto them and licensed the images. Nutting items do appear to have some intrinsic value. A search on the online auction site eBay turned up more than 150 listings for Nutting items, with several valued at several hundred dollars and one item valued at nearly $2,000. An Internet search also produced dozens of Web sites devoted to Nutting's photos and furniture. The idea of selling the slides, and some other Nutting material, has been bandied about for more than 10 years. With the potential auction now less than a week away, the sale has produced a rift between the library and a handful of preservation-minded residents, who complain the sale is parceling off the town's history to the highest bidder. "All he's (Gilchrist) doing is basically strip-mining whatever he can find in the library that has any value to the town and selling it," said auction opponent Todd Robecki. "The objects are intrinsically important to Framingham history." Though Gilchrist doesn't deny the purpose of the auction is to reap financial rewards, he yesterday claimed the money - the auction is expected to bring in up to $15,000 - will be put to use around the library. Trustees haven't decided what to do with the money if the sale goes forward, but several options have been tossed around. "One is to apply the proceeds to the principal of the library trust funds," Gilchrist said. "That would generate income for many years to come." Another option is to use the money to launch a fundraising campaign for the construction of a new branch library on the north side of town. Robecki, however, rejected the idea. "The thing that bothers me the most ... is there was no public input into the disposition of these objects," he said. "No one knew. "I think, as far as Framingham goes, so many people get the idea we don't have anything important, we have no history. Well, here's history, that's why I don't like the idea of it going outside Framingham." To unsubscribe, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with body "unsubscribe frambors" (the subject is ignored).
