Should OKC court Bible museum?
First off, let's keep this civil with religious preferences and differences aside. Move it to religion or political if you want to go there.
Ok, so with all the talk and suggestions that OKC should try and court more museums and attractions to downtown and Bricktown, should OKC try to court Hobby Lobby to locate this HUGE museum to Downtown OKC instead of Dallas (their preference?). Regardless of religous beliefs, this would be a HUGE museum and probably a huge draw. I found this article in today's JR.
The Journal Record
Hobby Lobby backs Bible museum
by Kirby Lee Davis
Published: March 29th, 2010
A second-edition Luther New Testament commissioned for Henry the Wise, his protector. (Courtesy Photo)
OKLAHOMA CITY – Hobby Lobby Stores will delve into the nonprofit realm for its next expansion project, creating a permanent home for the National Bible Museum.
The Oklahoma City-based chain of 436 retail stores not only is helping place the building, but will provide the museum a collection of several thousand historic Bibles and religious artifacts, led most recently by the Codex Climaci Rescriptus. Considered one of the world’s oldest near-complete Bibles, that manuscript boasts the only surviving New Testament texts recorded in Palestinian Aramaic, the tongue Jesus spoke.
“We’re intending to have a world-class museum for God’s word,” said David Green, founder of Hobby Lobby, who estimated the collection inventory in the tens of thousands. “It really substantiates God’s word, to see the history of his word.”
Led by Cornerstone Professor of History Scott Carroll, the nonprofit National Bible Museum has been under development for about seven years. In 2008 Carroll discussed opening a $300 million complex in a 900,000-square-foot downtown Dallas facility, but that project did not advance under the emerging national recession.
Hobby Lobby President Steve Green said Dallas remains a prime candidate, with Carroll continuing to spearhead the effort. He projects the size at 300,000 square feet or more.
“What we’re looking for would be a major metropolitan area,” Steve Green said in a telephone interview Monday. “We feel the museum would draw worldwide for people who have interest in the Bible. It just seems to make sense for it to be one of the major metropolitan areas in the U.S. That’s why Dallas would be preferred.
“But at this point, without having the location required, we would be open to opportunities that might present themselves,” he said. “At this point what we’re looking for is not new construction, but an existing facility that would work to house the collection.”
Hobby Lobby is evaluating potential museum sites with executive director Carroll, museum chief executive D. Jonathan Shipman, co-founder Daniel Centurione, and other supporters.
The trio also aided Hobby Lobby in building its collection of antiquities.
Steve Green, son of David Green, said recessionary pressures have led some investors to cash out their private holdings, creating opportunities to add to what is informally called the “Green Collection.”
“We do get daily opportunities that come up, individuals that are aware we are interested in acquiring biblical antiquities,” said Steve Green. “Those are looked at sitting down once a month. Sometimes it may be a single item and sometimes it may be a complete collection.”
Hobby Lobby acquired the Codex Climaci Rescriptus from Westminster College at Cambridge University. Green would not disclose the price.
The family firm also has added Richard Rolle’s 1341 translation and commentary on the Book of Psalms, considered the oldest known Scripture in English. These join a collection ranging from ancient scrolls, clay tablets thousands of years old and bits of the Dead Sea Scrolls, to Bibles once owned by Babe Ruth, presidents and other prominent people.
“We have a huge collection of Bibles, probably one of the largest if not the largest private collection of Bibles in the world,” said David Green. “We’ve got more scrolls than anybody in the United States.”
The privately held company has a long history of operating under Christian principles, in everything from its inventory selection to operating hours.
“We’re excited about being able to do the things that we do, that God allows us to do,” said David Green, who launched the firm in 1972.
For several decades Hobby Lobby has devoted a large segment of earnings to supporting a variety of ministry and nonprofit efforts. It has financed more than 450 million copies of the four-gospel Book of Hopes, given to children around the world.
“The collection has been something we have been involved in recently, but our faith goes back generations,” said Steve Green. “Grandfather was a minister and my father was a son of a minister. There is a heritage of the Christian faith in our family. We have had a love of God’s word for as long as I’ve lived.
“That is where the opportunity to work with the National Bible Museum came about,” he said. “We’re in the early stages of it. We don’t know exactly all the details but we’re excited about the opportunity to have a significant museum for people to hear the story of the Bible because it is a story unlike any other and we feel that story needs to be told.”
As the museum backers study potential sites, with no timetable for final development, Hobby Lobby has obtained climate-controlled storage facilities to protect its growing inventory.
“We really feel like that’s in God’s hands, quite frankly, and when the time is right we will go forward,” Steve Green said, echoing his father. “We would hope that is sooner than later. It would be exciting.”
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Originally Posted by Spartan
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