Woodmere Art Museum sued the Trump administration, claiming it illegally rescinded grant money that had already been approved.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvanialists President Donald Trump, the Institute of Museum and Library Services and its acting director, and the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and its director as defendants in the complaint.TheChestnut Hill museum is seeking for funding to be reinstated before the institution suffers "irreparable harm."
MORE: Pennsylvania rebuffs U.S. request for voter rolls containing personal data
The Institute of Museum and Library Services, which oversees grants around the country, awarded the museum $750,000 in September 2024as a part of its "Save America's Treasures" program, which was designed to preserve "nationally significant historic properties or collections."The museum's CEO and director, Bill Valerio, said the funding would have been used for updating its outdated storage system, digitizing works in its collection and planning for future exhibitions such as next year'ssemiquincentennial celebration.
Woodmere opened in 1940 and primarily features artists from the Philadelphia area. Today, it has over 10,000 works in its catalogue and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
After Trump signed an executive order in March to dismantle theIMLS, Woodmere received official notice that its grant had been terminated.An April letter from the IMLS cited in the legal complaint stated that the grant's purpose is "no longer consistent with the agency's priorities and no longer serves the interest of the United States and the IMLS Program."
"The IMLS's letter caught Woodmere in midair, and it has been scrambling ever since to keep our [Save America's Treasures] project alive," the lawsuit said.
In May, the IMLS reinstated two previously repealed grants to Historic Germantown and the Atwater Kent Collection at Drexel University. However, despite multiple attempts at requesting a review of its terminated grant, Woodmere never received a response from the federal agencies, Valerio said.
"Once awarded the grant, we relied upon it and entered into our own agreements for collection care, conservation, storage solutions and other activities that preserve the collection for future generations," Valerio said. "We are not only opening our new building in November, but we are also planning an exhibition for America 250 in spring 2026. We have deadlines to meet associated with collection care for both."
The White House, IMLS and Office of Management and Budget didn't responded to a request for comment.