SaveMPM

The Milwaukee Public Museum front entrance In 2022, Milwaukee County relied on a document labeled a “Due Diligence” report to justify a major, irreversible decision: vacating the current Milwaukee Public Museum building and proceeding with construction of a new facility. In public governance, due diligence  has a clear meaning. It requires a full and honest evaluation of assets, risks, and obligations —especially when public property, public funds, and irreplaceable cultural heritage are...

The Documented Value of the Museum Assets Being Left Behind In Part 1, we asked a simple question: If the Milwaukee Public Museum is leaving an aging building behind, why is it also leaving behind the historic environments inside it? In Part 2, we address the claim most often used to justify that decision — the idea that these dioramas and murals are “obsolete,” “low value,” or too costly to preserve. The documented record points in a very different direction — and as move planning advances,...

Why Milwaukee’s Museum Move Is Putting Irreplaceable Public Heritage at Risk For more than a century, the Milwaukee Public Museum has belonged to the people of Milwaukee. Not just as a building. Not just as a brand. But as a shared civic inheritance — one shaped by generations of artists, scientists, craftspeople, educators, and public investment. As the Museum prepares to leave its longtime home and move into a new facility, most attention has been placed on what is wrong with the old...