The Art of the Deal – A Final Offer
The Valley of Fort Scott rejected our $2500 donation for the scenery, countering with a request of $25,000 for the entire collection. They believed that selling drops for approximately $300 a piece was a very reasonable price. Although, if we did not want to pay that sum, they were willing to take their chances and auction off the backdrops individually, thus splitting up the collection.
The CEO was furious with this counter-offer and rationalized that their demand for more money was greedy and un-Masonic. He was ready to walk away from the entire offer and go with anything else that morning. It took over an hour to calmly explain why this was a sound investment and would ultimately preserve an important artifact of Scottish Rite history. Midway through our conversation, I decided to take another approach; the price was still a “bargain” as even the fabric would cost more than $300 for each drop. That worked!
He agreed to the sum of $25,000 but with the condition that this transaction would be a “purchase” and not a “donation.” I was then directed to email a response to the Valley of Fort Scott, making sure that they knew we were the ones preserving fraternal history and not selling it for profit. Inside my head, I could only think, “One gain for preserving theatre history, one loss for the fraternity.”
However, this was just one more incident that added to my growing uneasiness with this overall endeavor. Every interaction seemed to be based on “winning a battle” and not “preserving fraternal history.” I started to believe that none of my colleagues really understood the significance of this acquisition or any other artifacts that would be on display the heritage center.
The next morning, on September 3, 2015, at 9:40 I emailed our acceptance, writing:
“Dear John,
It would be a disservice to both Freemasonry and Bro. Thomas G. Moses to auction off individual backdrops. To honor both the fraternity and Bro. Moses’ contributions we agree to pay the requested sum of $25,000, thus preserving our combined cultural heritage. In addition to purchasing your collection, we will invest the necessary $250,000 to remove the scenery from your theatre, transport it to Minnesota, and restore the collection for many future generations to enjoy. We will need to schedule a lengthy time frame to remove the scenes, clean them, roll them onto tubes, and transport them to our storage facility. This process takes approximately three weeks with four people working full-time. This lengthy timeframe onsite is due to the fragility of the pieces and the safety of our workers.
Please draw up the necessary paperwork for the transfer of all 80 painted drops and all ancillary painted set pieces to the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center.
Sincerely, Wendy Waszut-Barrett, Ph.D.Curatorial Director, Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center”
The revised contract would not become finalized until October 16, 2015. It would be a sale of contract for personal property between the Joabert Lodge of Perfection of the Valley of Fort Scott, Orient of Kansas, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite and Minnesota Masonic Historical Society and Museum. This was not the first nor the last delayed contract for the project. Time was running out to secure a rigging crew and order the necessary supplies before I left town on November 1. Something wasn’t right and I couldn’t exactly put my finger on it.
Throughout the fall, I had continued to reflect on our Fort Scott road trip. Why drive such a long distance to only spend a few hours in the Fort Scott Scottish Rite Theatre? I had been very up front that I needed an entire day to evaluate the collection, eight hours at a minimum. Why had I had not been sent alone to evaluate the scenery? It would have taken the same amount of time – three days to travel, evaluate, and travel back? I was on salary for 30 hours a week, so it wasn’t an additional expense – only my travel expenses. Plus, the additional “side trip” to Guthrie, Oklahoma for dinner and a brief tour was nice, but completely unnecessary. It also meant that we had to leave Fort Scott by noon. Bob Davis knew of our coming, but didn’t go out of his way to do anything other than a generic tour. It made no sense at all.
Later, I would come to realize that not taking the time to complete a proper evaluation would mean that we missed fourteen drops. There were not 80 painted pieces, but 94. Furthermore, many scenes did not contain a leg drop, cut drop and backdrop. For many, a painted cyclorama formed the final layer in a stage picture. This would become problematic in both rolling and transporting the collection due to the dirt that accumulates on the netting.
To be continued…
