National Museum of American Jewish History files for bankruptcy

Despite the bankruptcy protection filing, the museum will continue to operate as normal, and while there will be reorganization, there will not be any layoffs.

By AARON REICH
The National Museum of American Jewish History. (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
The National Museum of American Jewish History.
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Philadelphia-based National Museum of American Jewish History officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on March 1, CNN reported.
The Smithsonian-affiliate – which sits across the street from the Independence Mall in a five-story, 100,000 square foot building valued at around $150 million – is stated to have a debt between $10m. to $50m. to several creditors, which – according to Philadelphia Business Journal – number between 200 and 999, the largest of which are owed sums in the tens of thousands of dollars.
The museum filed a proposal for a payment plan spanning 26 years in order to pay $16m. The annual payments start at $50,000, but will increase to $300,000, Philadelphia Business Journal reported.
Despite the bankruptcy protection filing, the museum will continue to operate as normal, and while there will be reorganization, there will not be any layoffs.
The museum first opened its doors in 1976 and moved to its current location in 2010, having once been in a smaller building on 5th Street, about half a block north of its current venue. The development of its new venue took three years, and interim CEO Misha Galperin told CNN that the loans taken out for the building are the source of a majority of the debt.
Ivy Barsky, the previous CEO, resigned in May 2019.
The museum aims to commemorate the Jewish American experience and houses over 30,000 different artifacts. Admission to the core displays in the museum is free, though tickets are required for the many special exhibits.
"The future is only likely to get better and brighter," Galperin told CNN. "It's a very important, historic place where the nation was born, and we're here to tell the nation what American Jews are grateful for, what was done for us in America and what we in turn contributed to the United States."
Despite their poor financial state, attendance at the museum has been rising, credited to its special exhibits, such as the pop-culture oriented Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
As such, Galperin predicts that the bankruptcy protection will only serve to help the museum in the long run, according to CNN.


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