Hi Ross,

I could find no evidence of a museum devoted to Sen.
McCarthy; however, I include below an article from today's
Austin American-Stateman about an exhibit about McCarthy.
Sounds shockingly interesting . . . spoken as an art
historian focused on (among other topics) American
abstraction during the Cold War era.

Jay Heuman, Visitor & Volunteer Services Coordinator
Joslyn Art Museum, 2200 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE, 68102
342-3300 (telephone)     342-2376 (fax)       www.joslyn.org

===================================

Source:
http://www.austin360.com/aas/life/ap/ap_story.html/Entertain
ment/AP.V2134.AP-McCarthy-Exhibi.html

Sen. McCarthy Exhibit in Wisconsin
By CARRIE ANTLFINGER
Associated Press Writer


APPLETON, Wis. (AP)--In the early 1950s, a supporter gave
Sen. Joseph McCarthy a brush--not to brush his teeth or to
comb his hair but ``To Brush off the Communists in
Washington,'' as it says on a piece of paper glued to it.

The Outagamie County Museum near McCarthy's hometown
gathered the brush along with dozens of other
items--including his boxing shoes and three war medals--for
a two-year exhibit entitled ``Joseph McCarthy: A Modern
Tragedy.'' The show opens Saturday.

In the 1950s, McCarthy, a Republican from Grand Chute, Wis.,
hunted real and imagined communists in the government,
Hollywood and elsewhere. McCarthyism and its
tactics--indiscriminate accusations, sensationalism and
inquisitorial investigative methods _ ripped the nation
apart and remain a matter of contention. The U.S. Senate
censured McCarthy in 1954. He died of acute hepatitis in
1957, during his second term.

Kim Louagie, a curator at the museum, said she tried to be
fair when putting together the $25,000 exhibit. Despite
McCarthy's negative image, a lot of people here liked him,
she said.

``I had to be very careful about weighing the evidence in
what he was doing and his motives and the results of what he
did,'' she said.

``Over and over again it seemed to me this was a story of
tragedy in the theatrical Greek tragedy sense in which this
individual had a central character flaw,'' Louagie said.
``At first, they are really useful and positive like his
sense of independence and his ambition ... eventually
becoming very negative and damaging to him, eventually
taking him down.''

McCarthy was born in Grand Chute in 1908. After a year at
Little Wolf High School in Manawa, he graduated from
Marquette University in Milwaukee in 1935 with a bachelor of
laws degree, served in World War II and became a senator in
1946.

The museum accumulated many items after a local newspaper
wrote an article about its effort. Donations came from a
McCarthy family member, community residents and the current
owner of McCarthy's childhood home.

McCarthy's wife, Jean Kerr, gave many items to Marquette.
Some pieces are on loan to the museum, including McCarthy's
three World War II medals, the brush and his burial flag.

The exhibit also includes his military footlocker and its
contents--dress shoes, dress hat, machete, Japanese flag, a
decoder and a pair of women's earrings.

About 100 photographs also are part of the display. Some
pictures are from the Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954, which
were held after the Army charged McCarthy with interfering
with operations as he searched for communists. A recorded
excerpt from the hearings accompanies the pictures.

The area includes a cork board where visitors can write down
and post their opinions of McCarthy. The museum also plans
to hold sessions for students to discuss McCarthy after
they've seen the exhibit.

Louagie said between 35,000 to 40,000 people a year visit
the museum in Appleton, a city of about 70,000 in eastern
Wisconsin.

The exhibit already has people talking.

``There's no way an exhibit or any responsible person can
make Joe McCarthy a hero,'' said Thomas C. Reeves, author of
``The Life and Times of Joe McCarthy: A Biography.''

``If it educates a new generation fine. I just hope they put
it in good, confident historical perspective.'' Said
McCarthy's 81-year-old cousin, Richard: ``It made me feel
good that they were writing down the facts, the pros and
cons.''

Meanwhile, Outagamie County Supervisor Joseph Harvath, who
doesn't agree with McCarthy's tactics, said it's history.

``He was a local boy and it's part of our history--good and
bad,'' Harvath said.

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