Masterpiece in a Mill Town

Pioneer artist and feminist Eleanor Norcross founded the Fitchburg Art Museum so that people in 'her native place,' a mill town in Massachusetts, could experience 'the joy and inspiration of art' that she discovered while painting in 19th century Paris. Since 1927, the Museum bravely carried out its mission, surviving fires, economic depression and other calamities, but went into a genteel decline as Fitchburg's paper mills closed. The story explores what happened when, in 1973, the Museum's trustees engaged an unlikely candidate, a former Marine Corps Captain and Archaeologist, Peter Timms, to revive its fortunes and expand Eleanor Norcross' vision. The Museum partners with New York's Lincoln Center to develop a unique 'object based learning' school, highlighting the potential, challenges and importance of a community museum.