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The Higgins Armory Museum was a non-profit museum, located in Worcester, Massachusetts, dedicated to the display of arms and armor. According to the Boston Globe, from its founding in 1931 until 2004 it was "the only museum in the country devoted solely to arms and armor," and had the second largest arms and armor collection in the country behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The collection consisted of 2,000 objects, including 24 full suits of armor. The museum closed at the end of 2013 due to a lack of funding. Its collection and endowment were transferred and integrated into the Worcester Art Museum, with the collection to be shown in a new gallery slated to open in 2015. The Higgins Armory building was sold in December 2014. The historic structure is believed to be one of, if not the first, building in the U.S. constructed solely out of steel and glass. ==History== John Woodman Higgins was a prominent industrialist in Worcester, Massachusetts who owned the Worcester Pressed Steel Company. Higgins traveled to Europe multiple times throughout the 1920s where he collected arms, armor, and other steel items.〔 One of his most important purchases was eight full suits of armor from the collection of George Jay Gould in 1927.〔 Originally, he stored these items in his house, which quickly filled with anything he could find made of steel, from suits of armor to automatic shoe polishers. Higgins incorporated his collection as a museum in 1928,〔 and as the collection grew larger than Higgins' house could hold, he began construction on a steel and glass museum building next to his factory in 1929.〔〔 "The Museum of Steel and Armor" opened on January 12, 1931,〔 with a grand gala. Music was played by members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Higgins' sons dressed in suits of armor. In its original layout, the museum displayed a wide variety of objects constructed of steel including "medieval weaponry, automobile parts, and even ... an all-steel airplane suspended from its ceiling."〔〔 Admission to the museum began with a walk through the armor exhibits and ended with a tour through the production lines to see modern steel manufacturing.〔 The production floor was accessed through catwalks connecting the factory and the armory. Higgins invited visitors to the museum across these catwalks, and he also invited his workers to visit the museum on breaks to get inspired.〔Silk, Tema. (What's Next for Worcester's Higgins Armory Museum? ). New England Public Radio. 13 December 2013. Retrieved December, 26, 2013.〕 Higgins died in 1961, leaving the museum a endowment.〔 The museum was first accredited in 1972 by the American Association of Museums and continued operations through the closing of the Worcester Pressed Steel Company in 1975. On January 4, 1978 the museum was the victim of a theft of arms and armor worth over .〔 1979 saw the museum change from a private foundation owned by the Higgins family to a public supported charity. At the vote to incorporate under a public board of trustees, the incorporators turned down offers by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York City, to purchase the collection as well as the offer of a merger with the Worcester Art Museum.〔(Another offer to purchase the collection would come again in 1985, this time from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. It too was turned down.)〔 The new museum board rewrote the mission statement, closed the exhibits on modern steel manufacturing, and devoted the museum entirely to ancient and medieval arms and armor.〔 By refocusing the collection, the board created the only museum in America devoted purely to arms and armor.〔〔 The Higgins Armory lost this title in 2004 with the opening of the Frazier Historical Arms Museum in Louisville, Kentucky.〔 While popular, the Higgins Armory began facing fiscal issues due to a dwindling endowment and inability to raise enough revenue to balance its budget. During the beginning of the 2010s, deficits at the museum ranged between almost and , draining the already small endowment to .〔 In order to shore up the endowment, the board voted in July 2012 to deaccession more than 500 objects, with the proceeds being put directly into the endowment. When asked about the deaccessioning, Suzanne W. Maas, the museum's interim director, stated "This is simple housekeeping," Maas said. "We have 10 virtually identical examples of troopers helmets. Do we need 10, or do we need seven?"〔 With the endowment still shrinking, a vote was taken by the trustees in November 2012 to integrate the museum into the Worcester Art Museum. The vote passed and in March 2013, it was announced that the museum would close the end of that year.〔 Suzanne W. Maas stated "There is not enough long-term support, and I can say I am very gratified that the trustees have made the tough decision and did not draw it out."〔 The museum closed on December 31, 2013, and now its entire inventory as well as its endowment have been transferred and integrated into the Worcester Art Museum, located less than 3 miles away. An exhibit of highlights of the Higgins collection is on view, and the art museum will renovate its current library to house the collection permanently. The new gallery is slated to open in 2015.〔〔 It is still unknown what will be done with the Higgins Armory building.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Higgins Armory Museum」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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