Ohio museum pleads for Nobel Prize cash

DAYTON, Ohio | A fledging museum devoted to the pursuit of peace is hoping its mission is just what President Obama is looking for when he decides what to do with the $1.4 million cash award that comes with his Nobel Peace Prize.

Volunteers and supporters of the Dayton International Peace Museum are writing letters to Mr. Obama in hopes of swaying him to make a donation. Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin says city leaders also will reach out to the president. The museum’s founders are urging state officials to make an appeal as well.

Mr. Obama has said he will travel to Oslo to accept the award in December, and plans to donate the cash to charity. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said this month that Mr. Obama has not decided who will get the money.

Museum officials say they would use the prize money to expand their peacemaking and conflict-resolution programs in elementary schools and among young first-time offenders and at-risk youths.

The beating death of a Chicago honor student last month attracted Mr. Obama’s attention. The president sent Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and Education Secretary Arne Duncan to the city to meet with students, parents and administrators. Federal officials also promised support efforts to stop youth violence nationwide.

The idea for the Dayton museum was born at a bus-station diner in 2003 when Christine Dull and her husband, Ralph Dull, longtime peace activists who live in the Dayton area, were on their way home from New York City after visiting the United Nations.

“All of a sudden, I said, ‘It’s high time Dayton had a peace museum,’ ” Mrs. Dull recalled. She said the couple were inspired by the realization that there were thousands of war museums and memorials throughout the world, but few peace museums.

The Dayton museum opened in 2005 in a stately 1877 Italianate mansion. The Dulls and several others used their own money to start it, along with a $10,000 grant from a local organization that supports grass-roots groups that promote social change. The museum is nonpartisan and not affiliated with any church or religion.

The museum sends volunteers to schools to urge students to make nonviolent choices, sponsors a summer peace camp and puts on a peace festival. Its former director has visited Pakistan, India and Iran multiple times to meet with peace groups and schools.

“I believe there is a critical mass for good in the world now. And we want to be part of that,” Mrs. Dull said.

Some peace organizations are flourishing.

The U.S. Institute of Peace, a government-funded, independent group that works to prevent and resolve conflicts around the world, recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. It has grown from three employees to around 250 and is building a new headquarters on the national Mall in Washington near the Lincoln Memorial, giving it high visibility.

“It’s a symbol of our nation’s commitment to peace-building,” said spokeswoman Lauren Sucher.

Richard Deats, former executive director of the U.S. branch of the Nyack, N.Y.-based Fellowship of Reconciliation, has followed, lectured on and written about the peace movement for years. He said a peace museum is a physical sign of humanity’s desire for peace and called the Dayton museum “significant.”

“It’s very important as a cultural landmark where peace is being studied,” Mr. Deats said.

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