Wilder still says Slavery Museum will be in Fredericksburg

Former Richmond Mayor Douglas Wilder spoke to a Richmond TV station and wrote a post on a state political blog yesterday. In both, he says the U.S. National Slavery Museum will be built in Fredericksburg. From his post on the Virginia Tomorrow blog:

The Museum Board is committed to its stated and moral obligations to the Fredericksburg community and its legal representatives.

We have over thirty nine beautiful acres in Fredericksburg, a much appreciated gift from the Silver Company. Our architects, engineers, planners and contractors have brought us to the point of the eventual construction of the first phases, to accompany the Freedom Garden there on display. The only thing that delays us is the next funding.

The economic conditions in our national not only have had the effect of job losses, mortgage foreclosures, and other financial problems, the likes of which we have not seen in over seventy years. This puts a damper and almost a clamp on charitable donations.

So does the fact that the museum allowed its registration to solicit donations in this state to expire last year.

UPDATE (2:25 p.m.): I just got off the phone with a spokeswoman with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and she reports that the state Office of Consumer Affairs has spoken with Wilder’s office today. Wilder’s office has told the state it will file all of the needed paperwork for a new registration to solicit charitable contributions by March 20. 

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