Norman Rockwell paintings arrive in Howland

BSA collection expected to open to public in March

HOWLAND -- "Surreal … Numbed … Excited. Like a kid in a candy shop."

That's how Howland attorney Ned Gold described watching the uncrating of the 65 Norman Rockwell paintings that are part of the art collection owned by the Boy Scouts of America.

The truck transporting the Rockwells and the rest of the BSA's collection arrived Friday morning at the former Trumbull branch of the Butler Institute of American Art at 9350 E. Market St., now known as the Medici Museum.Art.

"It's been three years of a lot of work to make this happen for the community, for the whole Mahoning Valley," Gold said.

Negotiations with the Boy Scouts started with an intent to bring the collection to the then-Butler Trumbull branch and the Youngstown museum. In December 2018, the Butler Board of Trustees tabled a plan to become custodians of the collection after a Wall Street Journal story raised the prospect of the BSA filing for bankruptcy because of changes in state laws extending the statute of limitations in filing sexual assault claims.

The decision led Foundation Medici, a nonprofit organization that donated the land and the majority of the funding for the Howland museum, to terminate its agreement with the Butler and to pursue the BSA collection on its own.

"Despite what started out with some negative issues, virtually every remark I've received in the last year has been positive about getting this collection into the Valley," Gold said.

Starting midday Friday and continuing Saturday, conservator Clara Wolverton of Cleveland evaluated the condition of the Rockwells and the other more-valuable works for Medici while Michael Roytek, manager of photography for the Boy Scouts of America, photographed each image.

"My job is making sure everything is how it's supposed to be, that nobody's liable for any damage, and if they are, that this entity is not," Wolverton said.

Wolverton scans each painting with an ultraviolet light, which revealed where they had been repaired and touched up over the years. Those alterations are common with most older paintings.

"Any painting that's over 50 years old, and even some that are younger but have had a rough life, are going to have lots of loss and tears," she said.

If anything, the paintings she has analyzed so far were in better shape than average because the pieces have spent most of their existence in the same location and haven't traveled much.

Roytek has worked for the BSA for 47 years, and he's never seen the entire Rockwell collection at one time.

"We did not have a space big enough to display all of these (in Dallas)," Roytek said. "It will be a real experience to see them all at one time when they're up on the walls."

Most of the paintings were created by Rockwell between 1925 and 1976 for annual BSA calendars produced by Brown & Bigelow. The images on the calendar weren't much bigger than a sheet of paper, but many of the actual paintings are larger than 30 inches by 40 inches.

John Anderson, a director of Foundation Medici, estimated the BSA collection will open to the public around mid-March. Rather than keep the doors closed until then, Anderson has filled the gallery with work from local and regional collectors that will be on the walls for the next month.

"I wanted it to be broad in scope, several media, certainly international," Anderson said.

The works on display range from abstract paintings to a customized chopper-style motorcycle. The Medici Museum.Art is open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, and admission is free.

An expansion of the existing museum should commence soon. Work on the west end of the building will create additional vault space, work space and classrooms. The current classroom on the south end of the building will be expanded for additional exhibition space. And the gift shop area will be expanded off the main entrance on the east side of the building.

"There is nothing standing between us and digging right now short of the contract (with the contractor) being signed," Anderson said.

That expanded gift shop could be filled with items highlighting the Rockwell collection. Brown & Bigelow, which originally commissioned the art from Rockwell, still controls the copyright on those paintings, but Gold said the museum is working with the company to be able to use the images in its marketing and merchandising.

The financial issues that discouraged the Butler board from entering into an agreement still exist; if anything, the prospects of the BSA filing for bankruptcy have increased in the last year.

"It is highly possible this entire collection will get sold, but we've gone into this with our eyes wide open," Gold said, adding he believes the collection will be here for a year and potentially longer after any bankruptcy action is filed. "Regardless of how it goes down, it's a tremendous opportunity for the community."