The Museum of Political Corruption is a
online museum
that was originally planned to be in a physical space in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

. The online museum focuses on political corruption. The museum is the idea of Bruce Roter, a composer and a professor of music at Albany's

College of Saint Rose The College of Saint Rose is a private Roman Catholic college in Albany, New York. It was founded in 1920 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet as a women's college. It became fully co-educational in 1969; the following year, the college ad ...

. His ideas for the as yet unfunded and unbuilt museum include installation of a

revolving door A revolving door typically consists of three or four doors that hang on a central shaft and rotate around a vertical axis within a cylindrical enclosure. Revolving doors are energy efficient as they, acting as an airlock, prevent drafts, thus de ...

, a "Lobby of Lobbyists," a "Tammany Lecture Hall" (referencing the corrupt, 19th century political machine

Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...

), a museum restaurant called the "Cozy Crony Cafe," and a gift shop selling a cookbook called the, "How to Cook Your Books' Cookbook." He hopes to open the museum in 2019. Although the museum is intended to be amusing and ironic, it will also be the product of careful design backed by serious scholarship. The Board of Trustees and Board of Advisers include

Thomas Bass Thomas Alden Bass (born March 9, 1951) is an American writer and professor in literature, journalism, and history. Biography Bass graduated with an honors A.B. from the University of Chicago in 1973 and earned his Ph.D. in the History of Co ...

, professor of journalism and literature at the

University at Albany, SUNY The State University of New York at Albany, commonly referred to as the University at Albany, UAlbany or SUNY Albany, is a public research university with campuses in Albany, Rensselaer, and Guilderland, New York. Founded in 1844, it is one ...

, Philip Mark Plotch, professor of political science at Saint Peter's University, Frank Anechiarico, professor of government at Hamilton College, Sarah Rodman of the Harvard graduate program in Museum studies, and Zephyr Teachout, one-time candidate for governor and professor at

Fordham Law School Fordham University School of Law is the law school of Fordham University. The school is located in Manhattan in New York City, and is one of eight ABA-approved law schools in that city. In 2013, 91% of the law school's first-time test tak ...

. The proposal is backed by Albany Mayor

Kathy Sheehan Katherine M. Sheehan (born December 5, 1963) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 75th List of mayors of Albany, New York, Mayor of Albany, New York. Prior to being elected Mayor, Sheehan served as City Treasurer from 2010 to 201 ...

and

Albany Times Union The ''Times Union'' is an American daily newspaper, serving the Capital Region of New York. Although the newspaper focuses on Albany and its suburbs, it covers all parts of the four-county area, including the cities of Troy, Schenectady and Sar ...

columnist Chris Churchill, who hope that it will bring tourism to the city. The museum was recognized by the Cooperstown Graduate Program in Museum Studies as an "emerging institution." It is a registered a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

and it received a five-year provisional charter from the

New York Board of Regents The Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York is responsible for the general supervision of all educational activities within New York State, presiding over University of the State of New York and the New York State Education Depa ...

in October, 2015.

References

External links

* {{coord, 42.659944, -73.806580, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-NY, display=title Proposed museums in the United States Proposed buildings and structures in New York (state) Political museums Political corruption in the United States