After projects in Tunisia and Jordan, Jim Richerson found himself working for the government of Malta and its antiquities collections as planning and design consultant for the National Museum of Archaeology.

“We had a great first year there, but it went bad in a hurry,” Mr Richerson said.

A national election was called in October 1996, and by evening the signs were clear that the Labour Party was rising to power, Richerson said.

“People were running around waving red flags and saying, ‘Labour has won. Labour has won’,” Richerson said. “People were standing in windows of government buildings and literally burning papers to get rid of old documents before the new party took power. There were little fires all over the place.”

The new government cancelled the Richersons’ visas, and they had just days to leave the island nation.

“It got us thinking that maybe it was time to end the life of the ex-patriate,” he said. “We came back to the United States and settled down.”

He started a new job as executive director of the Cayuga Museum of History and Art in Auburn, N.Y. Richerson worked there for three years before he was recruited to expand the Lakeside museum, in Peoria.

The concept grew from an $8 million to a $12 million expansion on the museum’s current Lakeview property to the $65 million project on the Washington and Liberty streets section of the Sears block.