Dispute troubles museum of Indiana poet James Whitcomb Riley

GREENFIELD, Ind. (AP) — The future of a museum dedicated to the life of famed Indiana poet James Whitcomb Riley is troubled by a dispute over control of its artifacts collection.

Greenfield city officials argue that a local nonprofit group can’t provide proof of ownership for much of the collection of writings, furniture, paintings and other items stored at the James Whitcomb Riley Boyhood Home and Museum.

The city has owned the home where Riley grew up since the 1930s, while the Riley Old Home Society has long maintained the artifacts related to Riley, who reached national fame in the late 1800s with poems such as “When the Frost Is on the Punkin” and “Little Orphant Annie.”