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.

This isn’t just a renovation.

It’s a break from the legal promise that created the museum in the first place.

 
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
 
What you can do
Sign this petition to demand accountability.

Share it.

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, national 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,

Sign to protect Toledo’s art—and the principle that public museums must remain public.

Additional documentation, including a timeline of changes and supporting materials, is available at: artistsoftoledo.com