Save MPM

What does it look like when a world-class museum treats dioramas as serious cultural heritage?

At the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, 19th-century dioramas by artist Gerrit Schouten are displayed in gilt frames, cataloged with detailed wall text, and preserved in climate-controlled cases — right alongside the museum’s Rembrandts and Van Goghs. Each figure, building, and boat is documented for its historical and artistic value. Nearby, an elaborate market diorama comes with an entire interpretive guide breaking down the craftsmanship — fabric patterns, clothing details, even individual figures — as worthy of close study.

This is what institutions do when they understand dioramas aren’t just “old models.” They’re irreplaceable records of history and craft, deserving preservation, context, and respect.

Milwaukee Public Museum’s dioramas deserve the same.

Fifty years before anyone had a reason to exaggerate it for an advocacy campaign, a Milwaukee Journal reporter got backstage access to how MPM's dioramas were actually made — the sugar-snow, the paper leaves, the fiberglass Masai figures light enough to balance on a single iron bar. Our latest piece walks through that 1973 record, and what it means now that the craftspeople who could carry the tradition forward are largely gone.

Read it here: https://www.savempm.org/post/backstage-at-the-museum

Contact your County Supervisor before the old building closes January 3, 2027: findyourcountysupervisor.com

www.savempm.org

Congress is holding hearings on the Smithsonian this week for language its leadership used to justify reinterpreting American history. MPM's own leadership used the identical playbook years earlier — "culturally incompetent," "scientifically inaccurate," "so bad" — to help justify demolishing a 140-year-old, nationally influential exhibit tradition.

The difference: nobody in Milwaukee ever got a hearing. The characterizations were never audited. The cost figures kept climbing every time they were cited.

Full breakdown:

Who Is Trying to Rewrite MPM's History? The same "culturally incompetent, scientifically inaccurate, Eurocentric" playbook now under Congressional review at the Smithsonian was used by MPM's own leadership years earlier — with no hearing, no audit, and a lot more at stake.

WHAT DOES “ETC.” MEAN?

MPM Inc. is using “etc.” to describe property it claims to own inside our public museum—property it may sell while keeping the proceeds.

“Etc.” is not an inventory.
“Etc.” is not transparency.

The pre-sale process begins in August.

Call your County supervisor and demand a complete public list before anything is sold.

Do not let them sell “etc.”
https://www.savempm.org/contactyoursupervisor-1

Milwaukee already learned this lesson once.

In 2005, a County audit found more than $7 million withdrawn from the Milwaukee Public Museum's endowment without board authorization — and a chief financial officer who concealed the true severity of the crisis. The County's own words: a violation of the public trust.

Twenty-one years later, the same governance structure is back — decisions made inside the private museum corporation, with the County relying on management's account rather than independent verification. This time, it's the Collections themselves at stake, including a gap of 2 to 2.5 million artifacts with no public explanation.

We're not asking the County to block the transition. We're asking for one thing: know what you own before it's gone.

Read the full breakdown →

Milwaukee Already Saved Its Public Museum Once In 2005, a County audit found $7M+ withdrawn without board authorization and a "violation of the public trust." In 2026, the same warning signs are back — this time for the Collections themselves.

A newly filed IRS return shows the not-yet-built successor museum booking a $30.9 million "beneficial interest" — two years before it opens.
The nonprofit it's supposedly borrowed from reports having about $25 million, not $30.9 million.
So we traced the number. It matches — within $1,247 — the current Milwaukee Public Museum's own net assets combined with its donor-restricted Endowment Fund. An institution that's still open, staffed, and serving Milwaukee families right now.
We're not saying anyone acted with intent to mislead. We're asking for a plain-language explanation of a specific number on a public filing — because by the organizations' own disclosures, a majority of what this figure may represent legally can't transfer to the new entity at all.
Read all nine questions, sourced directly from the Forms 990:

Two Years Before It Opens: Questions About a $30.9 Million "Beneficial Interest" WMNC's first-ever Form 990 books a $30.9M asset in a nonprofit that reports having ~$25M. The number instead matches MPM Inc.'s own current net assets — almost to the dollar. Nine questions, straight from the filings.

A newly filed IRS return shows the not-yet-built successor museum booking a $30.9 million "beneficial interest" — two years before it opens.

The nonprofit it's supposedly borrowed from reports having about $25 million, not $30.9 million.

So we traced the number. It matches — within $1,247 — the current Milwaukee Public Museum's own net assets combined with its donor-restricted Endowment Fund. An institution that's still open, staffed, and serving Milwaukee families right now.

We're not saying anyone acted with intent to mislead. We're asking for a plain-language explanation of a specific number on a public filing — because by the organizations' own disclosures, a majority of what this figure may represent legally can't transfer to the new entity at all.

Read all nine questions, sourced directly from the Forms 990:

Two Years Before It Opens: Questions About a $30.9 Million "Beneficial Interest"

I respect the buildings that they’ve preserved. Here in the museum these are they kinds of displays that we’re going to replace our exceptional immersions designs with….except they will be electronic… as if they make imagination more “interactive”. It looks good on paper, but utterly forgettable..

Visiting the Ford and Edison Museum in Fort Myers I cannot believe that we are allowing a private nonprofit to cherry pick what history (if any) gets shown in the new museum. Here they are showcasing the history, cherishing the history. Once the history is gone it is gone forever.

Every dollar the WPA spent inside the Milwaukee Public Museum between 1935 and 1943 is on the record — federal amount, city match, and exactly what was built, hall by hall. Ninety murals. Fifty-five miniature dioramas by Charles Porteus. A Chinese Room whose artifacts moved to the current building — while its original mosaic floor stayed behind in the old Library location, still there today.

This wasn’t charity — it was a seven-year federal jobs program that built exhibit halls, vaults, and artwork Milwaukee still owns. MPM, Inc.‘s own FAQ confirms the murals are County property. It still won’t say which ones are staying, which are going, or which are being demolished with the building.

The Museum Was a Federal Jobs Program. What Happens to Its Work Now? Ninety WPA-era murals. Fifty-five Porteus dioramas. A mosaic floor that's already survived one move. Milwaukee's own paper trail says this was public infrastructure — built by public employees, on public payroll. MPM, Inc. won't confirm what survives the next one.