State sues over assets of defunct Peace Museum For nearly three decades, Chicago's Peace Museum served the city as a lesser-known cultural center with big-name draws, including the writings of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the lyrics of Joan Baez and a John Lennon guitar donated by the star's widow, Yoko Ono.
The museum was founded in 1981 to promote peace through art. At one time it boasted a collection of nearly 10,000 pieces, but it hit hard times a few years ago and ultimately closed its doors. Now state authorities, concerned the museum's pro-peace relics may have sustained water and mold damage after being stashed away in storage facilities, have filed an unusual lawsuit to try to protect the property from destruction. The Illinois attorney general's office wants a judge to appoint an individual to inventory the museum's collection — which once contained thousands of pieces of art, photographs, anti-war quilts, sculptures and manuscripts — and then distribute them to other charitable institutions. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court, contended that the museum's former administrator now has limited control over the assets, which are being stored at the museum's last location at the Garfield Park field house as well as two other storage facilities. "The goal is to ensure that the assets can remain in the charitable sector," said Maura Possley, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Lisa Madigan. After seeing an increase in interest following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the museum started running into financial difficulties. In 2004, Melissa McGuire, its former administrator, told the Tribune that she was putting her paycheck back into the museum, buying paint, feeding volunteers and using her frequent flier miles to bring in guest speakers. McGuire, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, could not be reached Thursday for comment. "It breaks my heart that it is not alive and well," said Jackie Rivet-River, a former museum board member. "It was a proud and wonderful piece of Chicago's history that should have been maintained and funded and supported." The Chicago Park District, which has been housing part of the collection, welcomed the lawsuit. "They have said they would come by and pick it up, and they still haven't and this has been three or four years now," said Zvez Kubat, a Park District spokeswoman. "(But) we're not just going to pitch them. … We are hoping that somebody will come and pick them up." [email protected] -- http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-02-10/news/ct-met-peace-museum-flap-20110210_1_chicago-s-peace-museum-jackie-rivet-river-museum-board-member Via InstaFetch -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sixties-L" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sixties-l?hl=en.
