More than 75 years ago, workers who helped to create the beloved Nelson-Atkins Building left behind a witness to their pride of workmanship and its place in the Museum’s birth.
On a wall just inside the American Gallery construction site, the following was recently discovered: “WR Cromwell, Paper Hangar [sic], May, 10, 1932.” Similar signatures have been found in other Museum areas that have recently been renovated, most especially at the top of the cove walls of Kirkwood Hall, when that space was completed in 2005.
Whether signatures are left behind to attest to the work that is ongoing today – or not – we may never know. Nonetheless, pride of place is repeatedly demonstrated in the quality of work and depth of care that we see daily displayed in the current American/American Indian Gallery project.