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Tupelo Veterans Museum owner wants city to purchase collection for $400K

Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal - 6/22/2022

Jun. 22—TUPELO — The owner of Tupelo's veterans memorabilia museum is looking to sell his collection to the city itself. The price tag? $400,000.

During a work session on Monday afternoon, members of the Tupelo City Council heard from Tony Lute, the owner of the Tupelo Veterans Museum, who offered to sell his collection of wartime artifacts to the city.

The collection, which has lived in the Oren Dunn Museum since 2007, comprises a myriad of war memorabilia and military artifacts Lute began collecting when he was 16 years old. Now at 78, Lute told the Daily Journal he is ready to take a less active role in the museum, affording him more time with his wife to travel.

"It has been a lifelong collection, and I still collect a lot," he said. "I'm still going to volunteer. I'm not going to abandon (the museum)."

Lute told city officials he'd like the city to pay for his collection in four annual installments of $100,000. Lute also noted he had an offer from a collector outside of Tupelo, but he said he preferred keeping the museum within the city.

"The artifacts are from Tupelo's people; I want them to stay in Tupelo," he said.

Council President Ward 5 Councilman Buddy Palmer asked Lute to draft a proposal. Lute agreed and told the Daily Journal he planned to deliver it to Chief Operations Officer Don Lewis as soon as possible.

None of the members present expressed opinions on whether the city should purchase the expansive collection, but Ward 1 Councilman Chad Mims said he was on board with keeping the collection in the city, depending on the recommendation of the administration and the city's finances.

"Do I want to spend $400,000 to buy the war memorabilia? It is hard to say yes or no," he said. "The ideal situation would be to find a grant. I'd hate for it to be sold off and taken out of Tupelo."

Council Vice President Ward 2 Councilman Lynn Bryan said the discussion was just beginning and would require a lot of background work, from authenticating and inventorying the collection to appraising and looking at all loan and grant opportunities available to purchase the artifacts.

"We can't buy it unless it has been authenticated and appraised," he said, adding that Lute's asking price would not be the final figure.

"What (Lute) says it is worth and what it is actually worth are two different things," Bryan said.

City Attorney Ben Logan echoed this idea, telling the Daily Journal that the first step for the city would be to get a proper inventory of the collection and at least a partial appraisement on which to base an estimate.

With an estimate in hand, the council can decide whether to move forward with negotiations over a price for the collection.

Logan said if the city and council moved forward, he would work with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History about procuring the collection.

"It'll be a little bit of work to get to a point where we can make a determination," Logan said. "(Procuring artifacts) is not something that comes up every day."

caleb.mccluskey@djournal.com

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