Shutting Philly’s Libraries Means Shutting Out Its Poor

“Philadelphia, which created the nation’s first public-library system, had the good fortune to receive 25 of Carnegie’s libraries. But if Mayor Nutter goes through with his crisis plan to shrink the library system by 11 branches, the city will lose four representatives of its original Carnegie legacy. What will happen to Carnegie’s four temples of knowledge is anyone’s guess.”

National Museum of American History, In A New Light

“When the National Museum of American History reopens on Friday after two years and $85 million of renovation, it may begin to shed its reputation as one of the more cramped and confounding corners of the Smithsonian Institution. … [A] central five-story atrium now streams with daylight, promising other forms of illumination as the visitor heads off to the new or refreshed displays, with others to open in the next few months.”

LA Arts Leaders: MOCA Must Survive

“Amid news that the Museum of Contemporary Art is facing a financial disaster — and unconfirmed reports that MOCA trustees are pursuing a merger with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art — leaders of other Southern California cultural institutions have reacted with dismay. … Although rumors of MOCA’s woes have traveled through art circles for weeks, the drastic measures under consideration came as a shock to many arts leaders.”

A Rock Annex In NYC, 400-Plus Miles From The Original

“[H]undreds of artifacts [are] being prepared for the opening on Tuesday of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC, a $9 million branch of the Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland. The Annex, in a 25,000-square-foot basement space at 76 Mercer Street in SoHo — upstairs, facing Broadway, is an Old Navy store — was created as a smaller, quicker offshoot of the headquarters.”

Jerusalem’s Tolerance Museum Sparks, Um, Intolerance

“On a former parking lot in downtown Jerusalem some two dozen workers are now clearing the grounds for a planned museum/educational center designed by [Frank] Gehry and dedicated to the theme of tolerance.” But “the project is already inflaming some of the very passions it is dedicated to quelling, spurring protests from Islamic groups and the condemnation of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.”