The Policy That Changed Everything
- SaveMPM
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
In 2021, MPM quietly rewrote its Collections Policy to create a new property category. Four years later, that category is the legal foundation for selling Milwaukee's historic dioramas — without a County Board vote.
There's one problem: the category doesn't exist in the governing contract.
MPM, Inc. created the "non-accessioned" category in 2021. Then used it in 2025 to claim the right to sell Milwaukee's heritage — and keep the money — without County Board authorization. The governing contract never gave them that right. A new category, a new power — and no public notice
The Quiet Rewrite
In 2021, while the COVID pandemic dominated the news and the future of the Milwaukee Public Museum was already being quietly debated, MPM, Inc. — the nonprofit that manages but does not own the museum — adopted a revised Collections Policy. Buried inside it was a new property category that had never existed before: "non-accessioned objects."
On its face, routine professional housekeeping. In practice, a category that four years later would be used in Disposition Plan 25-586 to propose selling, auctioning, gifting, or discarding the museum's historic habitat dioramas, WPA murals, and irreplaceable built environments — without a Milwaukee County Board vote, with MPM, Inc. keeping the proceeds.
No public comment period. No County Board discussion. No press release. The creation of this category — and the massive expansion of MPM's claimed disposition authority that came with it — happened entirely within MPM's internal governance, invisible to the public that owns these assets.
The consequences are visible now. Photographs shared with SaveMPM document historic taxidermy mounts and exhibit elements stored in basement conditions with no visible climate control or archival housing. No public inventory of these objects has been released. The community that funded this institution for over a century does not know what is being preserved, what is being sold, or what is being destroyed.
"Milwaukee County holds title to the Museum collections. It is the fiduciary obligation of the County." — MPM Collections Policy, File 21-259, p. 19
⚠ AN IRREVERSIBLE MOMENT Once classified as "non-accessioned," objects can be sold or discarded without the formal deaccession process that would otherwise require County Board authorization for anything valued above $5,000. Every day without a public inventory is another day something disappears permanently — without a record, without accountability, without the public's knowledge.
The Legal Bottom Line
What the 2013 Contract Actually Says
The 2013 Lease and Management Agreement (LMA) — the binding legal contract between Milwaukee County and MPM, Inc. — contains no category called "non-accessioned." That term does not appear in the governing contract.
The 2013 LMA defines Milwaukee County's ownership broadly: all artifacts, exhibits, and "other items of historical or scientific value or significance" used for exhibition, display, education, or research. That definition encompasses the habitat dioramas, the WPA murals, and the built environments at 800 W. Wells Street.
An internal policy adopted by MPM's own board — even one following AAM professional guidance — cannot override a legally binding contract. It cannot transfer ownership of County property to MPM. It cannot eliminate Milwaukee County's legal right to authorize the disposal of public assets.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court confirmed the ownership structure in Hart v. Ament (1993): Milwaukee County owns the collections. MPM is the manager, not the owner. That decision is binding precedent — not a recommendation, not a professional standard, not optional.
Yet the "non-accessioned" category — invented by MPM's internal policy in 2021 — is the legal foundation on which Disposition Plan 25-586 claims MPM may sell historic dioramas and retain the proceeds without County Board authorization. That is the gap at the center of this story.
THE LEGAL BOTTOM LINE
MPM, Inc. is the manager of Milwaukee's museum — not its owner. Its 2021 Collections Policy is an internal governance document. It does not amend the 2013 LMA. It does not transfer County-owned property to MPM. It does not remove the County Board's legal right to authorize the disposal of public assets worth more than $5,000. The Wisconsin Supreme Court settled the ownership question in Hart v. Ament (1993). One party to a contract cannot unilaterally rewrite its terms to expand their own rights and eliminate the other party's. That is not how contracts work.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Contact your Milwaukee County Supervisor and demand:
Suspension of Disposition Plan 25-586 pending independent legal review.
An independent appraisal of all diorama and exhibit components.
County Board authorization before any disposal proceeds.
CITATIONS:
2013 Lease and Management Agreement — Milwaukee County & MPM, Inc. Defines County ownership broadly to include all artifacts and items of historical or scientific value used for exhibition, display, education, or research. The term "non-accessioned" does not appear. "Personal property" in this contract means office furniture, equipment, and operational tools — not 135-year-old habitat dioramas.
MPM Collections Policy, File 21-259, Milwaukee County Board — p. 19 "Milwaukee County holds title to the Museum collections. It is the fiduciary obligation of the County." Requires County Board approval for any deaccession above $5,000. Destruction only permitted for objects with no scientific, historic, or monetary value. Proceeds must go to direct care or acquisition — not transition costs.
Disposition Plan, File No. 25-586, Milwaukee County Board, 2025 Uses "MPM Personal Property" — defined to include "built environments not attached to the building" — to claim Milwaukee County has "no authority over its disposition." Disposal pipeline ends in "final disposal — discard, destruction, or contracted haul-away." Proceeds retained by MPM "to support transition costs."
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