Norman Rockwell's "The Baby Sitter"
Fund Raising Campaign


The residents of Burlington, Vermont need your help
in perpetuating a unique gesture from an
extraordinary artist...please read on.



Photo of the Painting

(Click on the picture
to see a larger version)

© Copyright The Curtis Publishing Co.

Update

  1. The painting is now on display at the Flemming Museum.

Mission Statement

The mission of the "Save the Baby Sitter" campaign is to assure that Norman Rockwell's original oil painting, "The Baby Sitter", will be retained as part of the heritage of the children of Burlington and the citizens of Vermont.

The donations to the "Save the Baby Sitter" campaign will go into a special endowment fund within the Burlington Schools Foundation to provide equal access to educational opportunity in the fine and performing arts for Burlington's school children.

"The Baby Sitter" will be displayed at the University of Vermont's Fleming Museum. The painting will occaisonally circulate throughout Vermont, and may be part of national exhibitions.

Burlington Free Press Article

The following has been reprinted with permission from the January 1, 1996 issue of The Burlington Free Press.

Christmas might just go on and on for the Burlington, School District.

A group of Burlington residents have been united by a common cause: to raise enough money to buy the Norman Rockwell painting, "The Baby Sitter" which the artist gave to a sixth-grade class of the now-closed Taft Elementary School in 1946. The residents want to buy the painting from the district and then have it displayed somepalce, maybe at the Fleming Museum.

"The circumstances of the gift are very unique," said Burlington lawyer Samuel Bloomberg, head of the group of 12 residents. "A beautiful thing happened as a result of the efforts of the students and the artist and that beautiful thing ought to be perpetuated."

The story is inspirational for our me-first times. The classmates of Alison Wheeler Pooley wanted something to memorialize their friend, who died of cancer at age 11. The troops took up a collection, procuring $12. They sent it to Rockwell, whom they had just gone to see in Arlington on a class trip. What appeared in the mail, however, was beyond their wildest dreams: an original oil painting now worth $250,000 to $300,000.

After Bloomberg and friends heard of the cash-strapped district's plan to sell the painting, they went into action. Eying a hot market for Rockwellian art, district officials had thought it would be just the chunk of cash that could start the Burlington Schools Foundation.

"What we are trying to do is have a public campaign to raise an equivalent sum of money so the painting will not need to be sold and this Rockwell can be available for exhibition to Vermonters," said Bloomberg, a graduate of the city's Lawrence Barnes Elementary School and Burlington High School.

Bloomberg wants everyone to know the inspirational tale and allow the schools to get the money they need.

The painting is exhibited by Chittenden Bank, without mention of either Pooley or the school district, because the bank insures the work of art. Paying for the insurance to hang the painting has not been high up on the district's list of priorities as it has endured millions of dollars of cuts in school operating expenses.

It would be a victory of morale to keep the gift in the city.

"I think it's a wonderful piece of art that came to the community under unusual circumstances and keeping it here would be a fulfillment of the purpose of the gift," Bloomberg said. "It's an art treasure - for us."

- Anne Greggis is the education reporter for the Burlington Free Press.

Donations

If you would like to help keep this painting within the possession of the Burlington School District, we ask that you follow these two simple steps:

Step 1: Send your tax-free gift to:

Burlington Schools Foundation for "Save the Baby Sitter"

Address:

Burlington School Department
150 Colchester Avenue
Burlington, VT 05401

Please write the word "Internet" on your check in the memo blank.

Step 2: Register your donation with this short form:

 
            Name: 
         Address: 
City, State, Zip: 
           Phone: 
         Company: 
      Occupation: 
          E-mail: 

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                  of this effort.

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      Contributions of any amount are very welcome.

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Contributions of $1,000 or more will receive a direct response from the committee.

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