The Boy Scouts inspired Norman Rockwell. His works will now help pay survivors of abuse

DALLAS (AP) — In a Norman Rockwell painting, a family proudly welcomes a beaming Boy Scout home from camp, duffel bag in hand. In another achingly idyllic work by Rockwell, a Cub Scout stands on a chair to measure his older brother’s chest, a Boy Scout who has taped his fitness record to his bedroom wall.

Many of the works in the Boy Scouts of America collection are as woven into American life as the organization itself, having appeared on magazine covers and calendars and even used to sell war bonds. An auction of the works will begin next week to help pay compensation owed to tens of thousands of people, mostly men, who were sexually abused while scouting.

The collection of more than 300 works, including dozens by Rockwell, is valued at nearly $60 million, a small sum compared to the organization’s multibillion-dollar bankruptcy plan. Campsites and other Boy Scout properties have also been sold to help pay for survivors.

“The idea that an iconic art collection that the Boy Scouts have amassed over many years is being liquidated to pay compensation to the survivors and provide them with some measure of justice, I think is very important,” said Barbara Houser, a retired bankruptcy judge . oversees the survivors’ settlement fund.

This year, the 114-year-old organization, based in a Dallas suburb, announced that this is the case rebranding to Scouting Americaa change intended to signal the organization’s commitment to inclusivity. The group now welcomes girlsas well as homosexual youth And leaders.

Compensation for survivors

The Boy Scouts hope to survive a barrage of sexual abuse claims Filed for bankruptcy in 2020. The $2.4 billion bankruptcy planone of the largest and most complex in the country, allowed the organization to continue operating while compensating survivors. It went came into effect last year.

Houser said more than 82,000 people filed claims during the bankruptcy case, and of those, more than 64,000 completed a detailed questionnaire to assert their claims. Survivors will be paid based on the severity of the abuse they suffered.

“Many of these survivors have waited literally decades for any recognition of what happened to them,” Houser said.

There could be multiple distributions of funds to survivors as money becomes available and further litigation occurs, and how much each survivor gets will depend on how much money the trust collects, Houser said.

To date, nearly 6,000 survivors have chosen to receive one-time payments of $3,500, and various settlements are being made for other survivors, with some payments beginning for them.

In addition to art sales, insurers and local Boy Scout councils also contribute to the trust. More than 30 municipal properties have been sold since October, according to Scouting America.

The survivors

Tom Krumins had only begun talking to family and friends about his abuse as a high school student at a South Carolina camp when he filed for bankruptcy. It took him months to decide whether to join the settlement.

“It’s the kind of bravery and courage that an Eagle Scout has to show, but at the same time it feels like you’re ripping away a part of yourself or losing yourself along the way,” Krumins said.

His focus was on the Boy Scouts’ youth protection commitments, which survivors urged to strengthen before voting in favor of the bankruptcy plan. The money will be helpful, but the most important thing is “to make sure this never happens again,” he said.

Doug Kennedy, a survivor and co-chairman of a committee representing the victims In the bankruptcy case, more than three-quarters of plaintiffs have approved the plan, but it has been “painful” for survivors to watch the process play out through the courts.

“The reality is that for most survivors, this will only solve bankruptcy. It doesn’t solve their pain and it doesn’t solve what was taken from them,” he said.

The artwork

The collection will be sold in coming years by Heritage Auctions in Dallas, including more than two dozen works on sale Friday.

The collection includes nearly 60 works by Rockwell, who early in his career worked for the organization’s Boys’ Life magazine and maintained a relationship with Scouts for more than half a century, including creating images for their calendars.

A work by JC Leyendecker showing scouting signage with flags was painted in 1911, a year after the organization was founded. It appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post magazine and was reproduced many times on scouting materials. His 1918 painting of a Boy Scout holding a sword in front of a flag-draped, shield-wielding image of Lady Liberty was adapted as a poster to sell World War I bonds.

“Many artists were really involved in consolidating the culture and vision of the Boy Scouts,” said Aviva Lehmann, Heritage’s Senior Vice President of American Art.

For the past four years the works have been on display at the Medici Museum in Ohio. Previously, some had been exhibited in the National Scouting Museum.