Montgomery, Alabama -
George and Lurleen Wallace Museum - Closed

Bad news fellas. . . earlier this year I sent you a tip about the George and Lurleen Wallace Museum, which was dedicated to the life of four-term Alabama governor and four-time presidential candidate George C. Wallace. Unfortunately, the museum recently closed because of a lack of fund-raising for the non-profit Wallace Foundation. Gov. Wallace, the topic of a recent four-hour TNT mini-series starring Gary Sinise, continues to live in Montgomery, however, and hopes to raise enough funds to re-open the exhibit in a new location. Gov. Wallace may be seen soon in the Spike Lee documentary "Four Little Girls" which will be shown on HBO at the beginning of 1998. Sorry about the closing; the South has lost a monument to one of its icons. [David Azbell, 10/13/1997]

I work at the Wallace Foundation which houses the George and Lurleen Wallace Museum. We have on display many artifacts from the careers of both George and Lurleen Wallace including reproductions of their offices (we have a problem with tourists stealing Gov. Wallace's used cigar butts from the ashtray on display), Gov. Wallace's first wheelchair, the ambulance equipment used after Gov. Wallace was the victim of an attempted assassination attempt in Maryland in 1972 and many more. One of our most popular exhibits shows Governor Wallace with some of the hundreds of celebrities he has known including Elvis Presley and O.J. Simpson. Of course, Gov. Wallace's early segregationist days are chronicled in the museum too. When his health allows Gov. Wallace, now 77 years old, comes to his office at the Foundation and often greets visitors to the museum. [David Azbell, 02/03/1997]