Victims of sexual abuse are eagerly watching an art auction
taking place in Dallas. Hoping the images of one
of America's great illustrators brings them some financial relief for
the pain they suffered. As Boy Scouts correspondent Thomas
Hopper has more. You're caught in a film still
of a movie. Truly, when you see this
work, as long as the boy scouts have been
in existence, their art has been an incredibly important
part of the story. For more than 50 years
, the artist Norman Rockwell helped shape the reputation of
the boy scouts. His paintings illustrating scout vows such
as being trustworthy, loyal, kind, clean and
brave. We've got this incredible imagery where there's color
design and form covering all corners of the composition on
Friday. Over two dozen of Rockwell's Boys Life magazine
covers and scout calendar illustrations will go up for auction
. Early bids are already topping six figures. There
have been millions of young boys who have gone through
the scouting program, many of whom had wonderful experiences
in scouting. Unfortunately, uh 82,000 men and perhaps
more and some women um did not have that same
experience. More than 50 Rockwell pieces owned by the
boy scout organization will be sold in the months ahead
. The proceeds will help pay settlements to tens of
thousands of people who say they were sexually abused as
kids by scout leader. And all some$2.6 billion
is being distributed by the scouts, not just from
the organization's art collection, but through land sales of
scout camps and insurance. So the idea that an
iconic art collection uh that the boy scouts had assembled
over many years is being liquidated in order to pay
uh survivors recoveries and to bring them some measure of
justice I think is is very significant for the scouts
hiring artists like rock well and others to depict wholesome
activities, helped create a global institution that has attracted
more than 100 and 30 million boys. Since 1910
, many artists were really involved in sort of cementing
the the the culture and the vision of the boy
scouts. Over 7080 years or more boy scouts take
an oath to help other people at all times.
But for some abusive adults serving as leaders, it
was a lie, retired bankruptcy. Judge Barbara Houser
oversees the settlement fund. She says the sale at
heritage auction is the right thing to do. Many
of these survivors have been waiting decades, literally for
there to be some recognition of what happened to them
. Formally. Thomas Hoo scripts news.