Barnes Debate: Long On Passion, Short On Evidence

The battle over the Barnes Foundation’s proposed move to Philadelphia has become so fraught with emotion that it almost resembles a religious war. Both sides are asking the judge in the case to allow a deviation from Albert Barnes’s stated intentions for his collection, but “ironclad facts were hard to come by in four days of hearings” this week, despite the judge’s order several months ago that ironclad facts were exactly what he expected both sides to provide more of.