Ridgefield Property Could be Home to Maurice Sendak Museum

“There should be a place where only the things you want to happen, happen”
― Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are

Wild things may be happening in Ridgefield at the Schlumberger property if everything fall into place.

At Wednesday night’s Board of Selectman meeting, plans were discussed to create a Maurice Sendak Museum in the Philip Johnson building of the Schlumberger property. The Board of Selectmen recently put out a call to locals to create a 9-member citizen’s committee to look into the future of the remaining 30 acres of land.

Maurice Sendak, the late children’s author and former Ridgefield resident, is best known for his book Where the Wild Things Are. The committee plans to collaborate with the Maurice Sendak Foundation to create the museum.

According to the Ridgefield Press, the estimate to build the museum will be approximately $5 million dollars and will be accomplished through grant funding and private donations. The project will not be financed town taxpayers.

Sendak passed away in 2012 at Danbury Hospital from complications due to a stroke. In 1968 Sendak chose the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia, Penn. to be the repository for his collection of art, manuscripts and books.

The museum recently filed a lawsuit against the executors of Maurice Sendak’s will, claiming they have not complied with his wishes to bequeath the multimillion-dollar rare-book collection to the Rosenbach Museum and Library, according to Philly.com.

Click here to read more from Philly.com.

Click here to read the full article on Ridgefield Press.

Photo: Maurice Sendak/Facebook

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