A public meeting last night at Traverse City’s Carnegie Library building drew a crowd of passionate supporters of the town’s history. Many called on the city to do everything it can to preserve that history – and the 111-year-old building.
The meeting came barely a week after the Traverse City History Center announced it intends to move out of the building next month.
Before the meeting, History Center Executive Director MaddieLundy was busy. Even on a day when the center is closed, she’s answering the phones, tending to the needs of the other non-profit tenants of the building and even vacuuming rugs and mopping the floor.
It’s a lot for one person.
“When we’re not getting paid to manage a building this large and I can’t work on our own non-profit, how are we going to make money?” asked Lundy. “When I’m doing everything.”
That’s basically what it comes down to for the History Center – and it’s why they told the city last week they intend to move out of the building next month.
The $100,000 a year it costs to maintain the building – and cover the utilities – is just too much for the center. It’s asking the city to work out a new deal where the role of de facto superintendent belongs to someone else.
Or it intends to leave.
The Con Foster collection
While that conversation continues, Lundy and a few volunteers have been trying to go through the city-owned Con Foster collection, to see which items could be donated, sold or repatriated with their original owners.
Lundy said caring for the vast collection is a tougher job than you might think. It requires experienced, trained people who know how to preserve, catalog and secure historical artifacts, many of which are very sensitive.
She has shared the message with city officials – that their responsibility for the Con Foster collection is more than just a legal one.
“You have a moral and ethical deal with the people when they come in,” she said. “They trust that you’re going to keep their grandfather’s gun forever – because they thought it was so important that a museum keeps it that they gave it to them to keep forever. So now we’re telling them, ‘Ah, it wasn’t that important of an object.’”
Lundy said that whatever happens, she hopes the city appreciates the importance of the collection – and the Carnegie Library.
“I love this building. I think it’s a great building and it needs to be respected as a great building,” she said.
At the public meeting, many ideas were tossed around, including the possibility of the city selling the Carnegie building.
A proposal from ArtsCenter Traverse City
ArtCenter Traverse City made a push for its proposal to take over the building. The organization showed off a computer-generated mock-up of what the building might look like as an art gallery and art education center.
Paul LaPorte is president of ArtCenter’s board of directors. He said the group’s recent merger with Petoskey’s Crooked Tree Arts Center puts it in a strong position to manage the building.
“We’re a part of a multi-million dollar arts organization, certainly the most successful arts organization in northern Michigan,” he said. “We are very serious about the proposal and we feel that it’s a responsible one that needs deep consideration.”
Larry Haines echoed a common refrain from the general public – that the Carnegie Library is a treasure of Traverse City that should continue to be used as a public space.
“This is a very historic building given to the city and for the city not to take ownership of it and treat it better than I think it has is a travesty,” said Haines. “However you use it, I certainly would hate to envision a Chuck E. Cheese in here or something of that nature.”