Petition to Enforce Libbey’s Will and Protect Toledo’s Art.
as posted on change.org:
The Toledo Museum of Art was established as a public trust to serve the people of Toledo through access to art and education, as set forth in the will of Edward Drummond Libbey.
In recent years, exhibition activity and visitor attendance declined while spending increased. The museum is now undergoing a large-scale renovation that has removed most of its world-class collection from public view, significantly limiting access for the community it was established to serve.
Here is a data portrait of changes leading up to the museum’s current closure and reconfiguration, 2014–2026. These trends raise questions about alignment with the public mission established by Edward Drummond Libbey.
The Toledo Museum of Art—built to house one of the nation’s great public collections—is being stripped to its walls while its masterpieces sit in storage or travel overseas.
This isn’t renovation. It’s a fundamental break from the legal promise that created the museum.
The Toledo Museum of Art—one of America’s great public museums—is being emptied.
Its galleries are stripped to the studs.
Its masterpieces are gone from view—shipped, stored, and scattered.
What’s happening
For generations, the Toledo Museum of Art has belonged to the public—held in trust under the will of Edward Drummond Libbey.
That will is clear:
The collection is meant to be preserved, housed, and continuously exhibited for the public.
But today:
- Major galleries are closed for years—not months
- Masterpieces have been sold off
- The core collection has been sent overseas and into storage
- A redesigned museum will display only a fraction of what once was visible
- What was built as a permanent public treasure is being reduced—without meaningful public consent.
Why this matters
This isn’t just about Toledo.
If a major American museum can:
- shrink its public footprint
- remove its collection from view
- and still claim to honor its founding trust
…then no public cultural institution is truly protected.
The Toledo Museum of Art was never meant to be a private experiment.
It was a public promise.
Our demand
We call on the Ohio Attorney General Charitable Law Section to:
- Investigate the administration of the Libbey Trust
- Review whether the museum is violating its legal obligations
- Ensure that the collection is restored to continuous public exhibition
- Protect this institution as a public charitable trust—not a private asset
Help ensure that one of America’s great public collections is not quietly dismantled.
Formal Complaint to the Ohio Attorney General
TO: Ohio Attorney General, Charitable Law Section
FROM: The Undersigned Beneficiaries and Stakeholders of the Edward Drummond Libbey Trust
DATE: April 4, 2026
RE: Administration of the Toledo Museum of Art
To the Office of the Attorney General:
While our masterpieces are currently scattered in storage facilities across the country and our galleries are stripped to the studs, we refuse to let the Libbey Will be dismantled along with the walls. We are calling for State Intervention to ensure that the planned reopening does not become a permanent downsizing of our cultural inheritance.
When large portions of the Toledo Museum of Art were closed, the museum pointed to its online eMuseum as a way for the public to access the collection.
However, digital access is not a substitute for in-person exhibition—and in recent months, even the eMuseum has been intermittently unavailable. At a time when much of the collection is already off view, this further limits meaningful public access. This raises broader concerns about whether the public is being provided meaningful access to the collection during this extended period.
We, the undersigned—including Toledo residents, born and raised Toledoans, visitors, friends, art historians, and stakeholders—formally request an investigation into the Board of Directors of the Toledo Museum of Art for apparent violations of the Last Will and Testament of Edward Drummond Libbey (Item XXV).
We believe the current leadership has deviated from the Trust’s mandates in the following ways:
1. Loss of continuous public exhibition
The Will requires that works be properly housed for public exhibition. Multi-year closures and removal of art from view undermine this mandate.
2. Dismantling of the collection’s integrity
Sales of major works and long-term international loans reduce the cohesion and accessibility of the collection.
3. Removal of art from its purpose-built home
The Libbey building was designed to safeguard and display the collection. Relocating works to storage and transit exposes them to unnecessary risk.
4. Public subsidy without public accountability
Despite tax-exempt status and public funding support, major decisions have been made without transparent public engagement.
5. Breach of the museum’s open-access mission
Extended closures exceed what could reasonably be considered “temporary” and deny access to a unique regional cultural resource.
We ask that your office exercise its authority under Ohio Rev. Code §109.24 to review these actions and ensure that this charitable trust is administered in accordance with its founding purpose.
The Toledo Museum of Art was created for the public—and must remain so.
Respectfully submitted to the Ohio Attorney General’s office on June23, 2026.
Signed by 1,309 individuals, including Toledo residents, born and raised Toledoans, visitors, friends, art historians, and stakeholders.
Voices of the Petitioners:
The Toledo Museum of Art, loved and appreciated by generations of both Toledoans and visitors, is being radically changed to fit the vision of the current museum head. I urge the attorney general to investigate the legality of the current changes and whether they are legal under the terms the will of Edward Drummond Libbey. – Mahala
I grew up in the OWE and as a 3rd grade student from Cherry School, was chosen to attend Saturday morning art classes at our beautiful Toledo Museum of Art in 1963, and I continued for 4 more years. This news is very heartbreaking, a travesty, a punch in the gut to Edward and Florence Libbey and the splendor and magnificence our museum gave upon walking though its doors. The treasured works that have already been sold or removed, should be returned to where they belong! This hallowed building is not an “out with the old, in with the new” kind of place! – Heide
A review of the Libbey Will is needed to ensure that the direction of the Toledo Museum of Art remains congruent with the Libbey’s vision for the museum and consistently timeless in its pursuit of excellence and accessibility. – Amy
I was one of the thousands of students from working class schools privileged to attend art classes at the Toledo Museum of Art. It was an experience that set the tone for my life and gave me an opportunity that only a public institution, a community treasure, could have made possible. I am heartbroken to hear of these changes. – Noreen
TMA’s curatorial policy was set by Edward Drummond Libbey’s will, and its relevance hasn’t changed: TMA’s collection is created, mantained and displayed for the benefit of the public, as a teaching museum. What resulted is one of the most magnificent collections in the US, and it continues to surprise and delight visitors who don’t expect a town like Toledo to punch so far above its weight… That is, it surprises and delights when visitors can actually *see* it. – Celeste
I studied art history at the University and took classes and labs at the Toledo Museum of Art. The collection in the early 2000’s was incredible. To read now that pieces are being sold off and opportunities stripped from the community and students to deny them access to art is shameful and against the values of the community and the will of the founders. Corporate greed has no place in art. – Michelle
The Toledo Museum of Art, a true cultural treasure of our region and our country, must not be allowed to be decimated by the current changes taking place! The will of Edward Drummond Libbey needs to be honored! – Emerson
Stop the madness. I was able to get a scholarship and attend classes as a kid. This isn’t your personal museum. It’s the people’s museum. – Kerry
Just went to the museum today, and saw it as a shadow of what it once was. Only two small rooms open to the public, and they had the nerve to have the only other exhibit available be a $10 ticketed experience, which is also just a small room. The museum was a staple of my childhood, so seeing what happened to it is genuinely painful. – Katie
I have spent 68 years visiting & taking classes, getting my Bachelor’s in Art at the Toledo Museum of Art. It has been like a second home to me. I am a current member of the Museum and I’m horrified at what I see happening to my Museum and the attitude of those who seem to be in charge feel they can do whatever they want with Libby’s beloved collection and dedication to the arts. I also have the museum in my estate will but I will change that if I don’t see a stop to this madness! – Sandi
It appears that the administrators were wanting to undermine their staff by removing them from their payroll to avoid the responsibilities of benefits and retirement, and dismissing them when they heard that the workers wanted to unionize. That reeks of retaliation. – Kay
My grandmother, father, and uncle worked at either OI or in the Libby factory. Every summer my grandmother would take us to the TMA and remind us that it was considered one of the best museums in the country. Please keep it that way! – Cynthia
I fear that the de-acquisitioning of important and beloved artworks to raise money for expensive, unneeded interior changes, will lower the quality and national reputation of our museum. This, all to satisfy the ego of the director’s “vision”! – Anthony
See also: