And that is as it should be. Every museum has to build on the past to avoid being stuck in it. Little would be achieved by moving the Terra to Washington, which already has a museum devoted to American art among more showplaces that, taken together, offer greater depth and diversity than does Chicago. There it would be starting over on a scale that is just too small. Visitors who do not come with the founder's national fervor are not likely to have it created by the art on view.
Several arguments exist for having a collection stay where it was built.
Such decisions always have been a matter of conscience, and Chicago has lost a number of fine collections to other cities. Terra stood apart from the Chicago art community, running his museum as a Ross Perot might. Nevertheless, during 20 years the Terra Museum became a part of the community simply by being here. The kind of citizenship on which it was founded would have it remain. Whether it does, will be decided by the courts.