Save the McCormick Freedom Museum

FREEDOM FIGHTERS David Grange and Shawn Healy, smiling in front of Trib Tower—even though their museum moved out a few months ago.

Keep this photographer working: Tim Klein timkleinphoto.com

Three days after the McCormick Freedom Museum announced it would shut its doors, sadness could be heard in the voice of museum president Dave Grange. “It’s very dear to my heart,” Grange (who will retire Mon 1) said in a February interview with TOC about the museum’s March closing. “We thought that for the space we had, we had a very important impact.”

At least the museum, created to spur discussion of the First Amendment, left its small, street-level space in Tribune Tower on a high note: Its 2008 attendance topped 100,000. But the museum had seen warnings of trouble ahead. In 2007, Sam Zell acquired the tower along with the Tribune Company, and by June 2008 he was publicly discussing alternate development opportunities.

Until that moment, it looked as if the institution, opened in 2005 with funds from the McCormick Tribune Foundation (now the McCormick Foundation), would become one of Chicago’s high-quality museums. Exhibits on First Amendment history and court rulings were crowned by a high-priced, commissioned sculpture called 12151791—named after the ratification date of the Bill of Rights. Now, with nowhere to display it, the museum has that sculpture locked up in storage.

Yet nearly three months after the museum’s physical space has closed, its spirit remains alive. “We are in the midst of planning new initiatives,” says managing director Shawn Healy. “We’re really trying to ramp up what we’re doing.” Noted speakers take part in Freedom Museum–sponsored lectures, which run weekly. A traveling exhibit, curated by the museum, will be mounted in Wheaton. Still run out of offices in Trib Tower, the museum also keeps people informed on freedom-of-speech issues on its blog, fanningtheflames.blogspot.com.

As for finding new digs, “There’s a chance we may look into a space,” Healy says. “I’m not going to lie: the transition was difficult. But for now, I think we have the chance to touch more people in a different way.”

Express your right to patronize by becoming a Freedom Museum member ($20–$40; freedommuseum.us).

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