Groups fight over Elysian museum

By Dan Linehan
Free Press Staff Writer

ELYSIAN August 17, 2008 01:13 am

— This controversy will be one for the local history books.
And there will probably be two version of the books, one for each version of the truth.
It’s a story so out of place in a small-town historical society that it might be laughable if it were not so acrimonious. It involves lawyers, a lawsuit and already prickly relationships gone downright nasty.
Different attorneys tell different stories, but this much is true:
On May 16, the Le Sueur County Historical Society moved to re-organize the Elysian chapter with a bevy of allegations that include failing to submit financial reports to engaging in “ghost hunting” and other paranormal investigation unbecoming to a historical society.
But the Elysian chapter would not be dissolved. Its leadership believed the county historical society doesn’t have the authority to disband it.
Instead, those leaders resigned from the countywide group and renamed their local chapter the Elysian Area Historical Museum. It claims to be the legitimate entity and ownership of the 1895 schoolhouse-turned-museum. It is listed as a nonprofit corporation in good standing with the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office with an original filing date of Jan. 26, 1990 — the date of what now appears to be a poorly executed restructuring effort.
In response, the countywide historical society elected its own four-person board of directors for a new Elysian chapter. The county group continues to occupy the genealogical center but doesn’t venture into the museum, a stone’s throw away.
On Friday the Le Sueur County Historical Society filed a civil lawsuit in Le Sueur County District Court seeking the expulsion of the Elysian Area Historical Museum from the museum.
The plaintiffs have what appears to be a solid claim to ownership: a 1966 deed that describe the museum’s sale to the Le Sueur County Historical Society from the school district for $1.
Despite that document, the Elysian Area Historical Museum holds the keys to the museum as well as the chapter’s bank accounts and its post office box key. The museum is open to the public, though at least two visitors from the opposing camp were asked to leave.
There are now two historical societies in Elysian, a town of about 540 residents.
The museum-controlling Elysian Area Historical Museum is led by Patricia Nusbaum, Elysian’s city administrator and a woman who provokes strong feelings in her opponents.
Nusbaum declined interview requests and referred comment to her lawyer, Dan Hoehn, who says the dispute is more about clashing personalities than what’s best for historical preservation.
The county-sanctioned chapter is led by Jason Coon, also a city councilman.
This is not the first adversarial relationship involving Nusbaum and the City Council. Coon and fellow Council Member Tiffani Atherton earlier this year led the drive to bring in state auditors to examine the city’s finances.
The auditors’ report criticized several aspects of the city’s governance.
“It’s the Hatfields and the McCoys, that’s how it is,” genealogical center director Shirley Zimprich termed the feud.
Museum at heart
The mere existence of two historical societies isn’t the rub — both say they can live with each other just as many history groups co-exist elsewhere.
But they can’t both own the museum, a schoolhouse until the district consolidated in the 1960s and sold it to the historical society.
The impressive two-story red brick building sits on a hill overlooking Lake Tustin and is filled with what must be hundreds and perhaps thousands of artifacts. There’s a case with numerous glass shoes and a World War I uniform from a local man who served as a motorcycle courier to legendary U.S. Gen. John Pershing.
The museum’s director of 11 years, Nancy Burhop, declined to discuss the ownership dispute.
‘Not welcome’
There have been two prickly encounters at the museum, one ended by a Le Sueur County sheriff’s deputy. It’s described in the officer’s report included in the civil court filing.
On June 27, society board member John Chamberlain and his wife, Katha, entered the museum and were confronted by Burhop, who asked them to leave.
When officer Keith Frederick arrived, he was handed a cell phone and told by Burhop the person on the other end would know what’s going on.
Nusbaum told the officer that a person from that county historical society was causing problems and that the museum was not part of the historical society.
With an eye toward settling the immediate disagreement, the officer asked Chamberlain to leave, which he did.
The second incident involved Shirley Zimprich, the genealogical center employee, who said Burhop told her she “wasn’t welcome.”
“She called me a snitch,” Zimprich said.
She said she left and hasn’t returned since.
“It’s just too bad, I mean it’s so childish, like a bunch of kindergartners,” she said. “It’s always been a friendly town and a friendly museum.”
Owning history
The Le Sueur County Historical Society has a deed to the building but not to the artifacts within.
The process by which historical societies typically receive donations, called accession, involves documentation of the gift, now done via form, said David Grabitske, a Minnesota Historical Society historian who assists local groups. The county historical society is seeking his advice on this issue.
Every artifact should have an I.D. number that can be traced to a record that describes the gift.
The county historical society would like to look at those accession documents, but the museum’s current occupants won’t allow them to, historical society attorney Jerry Lucas said.
Burhop wouldn’t allow a reporter to see the museum’s accession forms.
What’s important, Grabitske said, is the donor’s intent — did they mean for their family heirlooms to be given to the countywide society, or the local chapter? Or would they not care, as long as the museum isn’t changed?
And using this criterion, the museum’s transfer of power fails the transparency test, Grabitske said, calling it “deeply troubling, not an example for anyone.”
By contrast, he lauds the county historical society.
“From what I can tell, they’re looking for the sort of openness, the transparency that you’d get from larger ones (historical societies) in the state. They’re looking for that sort of professional bearing. I think that’s something that is commendable.”
County cuts funding
Like most historical societies across Minnesota, the Le Sueur County Historical Society gets much of its income from its host county. In this case, $58,275 in public funding was budgeted this year.
Earlier this year, the Le Sueur County Board cut off the society’s funding because it wasn’t getting accurate financial reports, auditor Ron Germscheid said.
The money typically goes to the county society, which distributes it to the chapters.
The society received $6,561 in January and has so far been denied $27,392. The money is waiting if the County Board decides the society’s financial workings are clarified.
Terry Hayes, the County Board’s representative at the historical society, said, “We’re just kinda letting the new board of directors handle it,” referring to the Coon-led group.
Of Nusbaum’s Elysian Area Historical Society: “They don’t own anything.”
And he wants to dispel a rumor the county wants the museum closed down or at least moved.
“We want that historical building open to the public,” he said.
In any case, it’ll be someone else’s problem soon because Hayes’ term ends in November and he hasn’t refiled.
“When and if it goes to court, the county will be involved with it,” he said last week before the society made its filing in district court.
Separate, but unequal?
This dispute wouldn’t be possible if not for the historical society’s structure, which Grabitske said is unique of all the 86 county historical societies statewide.
Due to a change made in 1990 for tax purposes, each of the local chapters is a separate nonprofit. But the county society’s bylaws give it authority to audit each chapter and remove board members.
The Elysian Area Historical Museum’s lawyer, Dan Hoehn, disagrees.
“Their bylaws,” he said, referring to the county society, “don’t govern the organization I represent.”
Therefore, he said, the Elysian chapter was never defunct but merely continued operation of the museum after a name change.
There is the troublesome issue of museum ownership, considering the historical society has a deed to the building.
But Hoehn said the Elysian nonprofit has operated the museum since the ‘60s and never intended to relinquish ownership during the 1990 reorganization.
Both attorneys, Hoehn and Lucas, claim they tried to negotiate and avoid a civil suit.
“We were hopeful that something could be resolved,” Lucas said, but added that the historical society can’t accept the status quo.
Hoehn says that was the only offer he received: Turn in the keys and go home.
He said he offered to set up a face-to-face meeting between both boards, but the county group wouldn’t agree to one.
The defendant is required to file a reply to the lawsuit within 20 days or face a default judgment — ejection from the museum and the payment of attorney’s fees, among other conditions.
History takes backseat
Meanwhile, both historical societies are planning meetings and going about their work, though the split can hardly be far from anyone’s mind.
A flyer advertising a July meeting for Nusbaum’s group reminds readers it is “NOT to be confused with the Le Sueur County Historical Society.”
The reformed Elysian chapter, led by Coon, is also planning an August meeting.
Members are “anxious,” Coon says, to get the museum back.
“Right now, they’re squatting,” historical society board president Jim Mladik said in the exasperated tone he falls back on when discussing the conflict.
“This is supposed to be kind of a fun group, talk about history and relive the old days, take care of museums and promote historical events,” he said.
They haven’t done as much of that stuff this year.
“It’s a full-time job to deal with all of this.”

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