Civil War News readers revere their past and the present-day physical reminders of the past. How many times do we read in these pages about "hallowed ground?" For this reason we all grow anxious when we learn of new threats of encroachment to Civil War battlefields.

For this same reason, many Civil War enthusiasts and other historic preservationists have expressed concern upon learning about The Museum of the Confederacy's fight for survival against urban encroachment. Because the museum's preservation fight is about both "hallowed ground" and survival as a business, it is even more complex than the normal battlefield preservation fight.

The museum and neighboring White House of the Confederacy, at 12th and Clay Streets in downtown Richmond, are currently surrounded on two sides by high-rise medical buildings of Virginia Commonwealth University Health Systems. As I write this, the ground is shaking while the once-quiet interiors of the museum and house are filled with the near-deafening roar of massive construction equipment erecting a new 16-floor hospital a few yards from the third side of the museum.

Due to this construction, the historic end of Clay Street, on which the White House stands, was closed to traffic a year ago. Adjacent hospital construction in the late 1980s closed and then eliminated 12th Street, the route used by Jefferson Davis and other leaders to walk from the White House to the Confederate Capitol and government buildings.

In two years, you will not be able to see the 1818 mansion that became the White House of the Confederacy except for the view from the sidewalk in front, and you already can't get closer to it with your car than the next block.

That would be fine if the museum were located in Boston on the well-marked Freedom Trail, but we're lost to the outside world in the street maze of a large, rapidly expanding medical complex whose transportation and parking accommodations do not come close to serving our public's needs.

The most dedicated visitors do manage to find the confusing entrance to the closest parking deck, but some do not find a parking space. All arrive at The Museum of the Confederacy's front door in a state of irritation.

With visitation down to half of what it was 15 years ago and revenues from entry fees down a like amount, The Museum of the Confederacy is fighting for its institutional life. And so, the treasures we preserve that mean so much to you (not only the White House itself but also the tens of thousands of precious artifacts and documents "" from the presentation sword and uniform that Lee wore at Appomattox to almost half of all of the known Confederate flags) are in grave danger of disappearing from public view.

However, the museum members and supporters are committed to winning this battle and emerging even stronger. Unlike battlefield preservation fights, "victory" cannot be achieved by merely buying land. If protecting the White House from destruction were the only issue, victory would be simple. But, as an educational institution committed not only to saving the National Historic Landmark but also making it and its lessons accessible to the public, the museum "" or any institution charged with preserving the house and the artifacts "" must remain viable as a business.

Like the strategists of the great military campaigns you've studied, museum officials have been obligated to view our situation and our limited options with steely-eyed realism. The coldness of this self-study has caused some of our supporters to blanch and even to cry foul, which is a distraction that we can ill afford.

Consequently, the first thing we were forced to do in 2002 was realize the museum cannot continue to do what we've been doing because we see the end results clearly:Bankruptcy. Well beyond a preservation issue, that is a simple economic fact.

All concerned with the facts of our situation realized we must change something significantly, and this approach means that we must examine ALL of our options, as unpleasant as some may seem.

This tough-minded but reality-based approach is in fact the opposite of the irresponsibility attributed to the museum leadership by a letter-writer in your January issue. For those interested in learning the truth of the museum's financial situation, see the "management letter" sent to our members in December now posted on the museum's website (www.moc.org:"About the MOC").

Any failing business that identifies its location as one of its major obstacles to success will contemplate changing its location. How could we in good conscience ignore the most obvious solution, which is to relocate the museum?

In fact, virtually all of our potential major donors indicated that the museum must "fix its problem" before making significant capital contributions, and they usually said "the problem" is our location.

Thus, it should have surprised no one with the interests of the Museum of the Confederacy at heart to see that one option we had to consider was relocating the museum and moving the White House out of the medical maze and to a site more easily accessible to visitors.

Of course the preservation of the White House is a top priority for museum leaders; but we are not interested in a solution that leaves the White House where it is "" but boarded and locked up and not available for tours. In deference to the appeals of our members, preservationists, and public officials, we are now pursuing options that do not involve moving the house.

We are encouraged by the public recognition of the importance of our preservation work and our contribution to our community and trust that this recognition will translate into the financial support necessary to both preserve the house where it is and help the museum survive as an institution.

What we are committed to in our lengthy review of our options is finding a solution to our location and financial problems that leaves the museum on the most solid footing to fulfill its educational and preservation mission. You can learn more about what we're facing by visiting our website www.moc.org ("About the MOC"), where we have gone to great lengths to make our situation "" financial and otherwise "" as transparent as we can.

Because we recognize that the museum is a public treasure, we have been unusually open about our deliberative process. This has of course invited all sorts of opinions and ideas from all sorts of people. Some ideas are serious and well-considered; others merely reflect long-held agendas, some of which we regard as rather extreme and irresponsible.

Some of the critics who are appealing so passionately to the importance of historic preservation are the same people who are so passionate in their hatred of the National Park Service that they have stated that they would rather "have our [Confederate] flags rot than return to Gettysburg" where they would be displayed in order to raise funds for their preservation.

I urge you, the Civil War News reader, to join the members of The Museum of the Confederacy in supporting us in our battle for survival. Trust that we are engaging the best minds in the business, preservation, and museum worlds to help us through this difficult period. This is clearly a preservation fight that we must win.

S. Waite Rawls III is executive director of the Museum of the Confederacy. To contact the museum telephone (804) 649-1861, e-mail info@moc.org, or visit www.moc.org