Auctions to move forward?

On August 31, 2026, the NYS Department of Education withdrew its objection to the auction of historic art works and educational artifacts held in the care of Wells College. The Wells Legacy Society obtained a copy of the letter via FOIL; you may read it HERE.

The new letter states: “It has been determined that Wells College is responsive to the public interest in the distribution of these items” and holds that the department no longer objects to the planned auctions “so long as due diligence continues to be followed to ensure that Wells College’s legacy and historical items are transferred to other entities where their care will be adequate and made generally accessible to the public.”

Oversight to establish compliance with this determination is not specified.

The letter is different in tone and content from the Letter of Objection filed by the NYS Department of Education in February 2026, following an outpouring of highly documented concern from the WLS, the local historical society and the Aurora village historian.

The extensive court listings of the items planned for auction at three different houses may be found here. We believe that valuable items were removed from campus by Christies Auction House and Stair Galleries in October 2024. Last we knew, Grace Auction and Estate Gallery in Ithaca had not received the hundreds of historic items of local interest intended for them.