ABSTRACT
Signs carried by Albert C. Barnes Watch protesters standing outside in the rain during the Foundation’s re-opening celebration were largely ignored by the partygoers who scurried through the entrance portico. The Walter Hermans’ neighbors were lawyers and business people. Many like Walter were Jewish—the grandchildren of immigrants from Eastern Europe. The commissioners, however, were doing what they had been elected to do—listening to neighbors who feared spaces for some fifty cars would do little to address the issue of traffic congestion on Latch’s Lane. The complaint also quoted Foundation neighbor Robert Marmon’s reference to “Mr. Richard H. Glanton and his people” as “carpetbaggers” and another neighbor’s observation that he would “prefer living across the street” from a mall. The vehement opposition of the Barnes neighbors to a full-fledged museum may have made the Barnes president belatedly reticent to sketch clearly the path down which he seemed headed in a hurry.
