A years-old controversy pitting a municipal council and local foundation against a nonprofit group over what to do with a Greene County borough's historic treasures has been resolved.

"It's an all's-well-that-ends-well situation," said Nils Frederiksen of the state attorney general's office, which helped broker a deal along with Greene County Common Pleas Court President Judge William R. Nalitz.

At stake were scores of artifacts from Greensboro's 219-year history, including pottery, a hotel ledger, plows, riverboat memorabilia, Victorian dresses, family Bibles, photographs and a schoolmaster's desk.

Those treasures, which were on the verge of being auctioned off before the attorney general's office intervened, will now remain in Greensboro for viewing once enough money is raised to reopen the museum.

As part of the deal, Greensboro council will get new digs -- on the top floor of the museum.

The nonprofit Monon Center Inc. -- so-named because Greensboro, named after Revolutionary War hero Nathanael Greene, is hard against the Monongahela River -- has twice tried to auction the artifacts.

Pat Smider, a lawyer for the center, said there simply wasn't enough money to continue operating a museum out of a 105-year-old schoolhouse that the borough had sold to the center in 1974 for $1.

Besides, he said, the borough took back the building through eminent domain in 2007, several years after the museum stopped operating -- a move that "completely blindsided" the board, according to Mr. Smider.

The Monon board hit upon a plan to sell the treasures and set up a scholarship with the money. As the scholarship was conceived, Mr. Smider said, the region's history would be maintained through seminars, projects and essay writing.

But the Nathanael Greene Historical Foundation objected.

Borough council and the foundation "had been trying to re-engage the Monon board since 2003," said Ralph Jannini, vice president of the foundation. "They had petitions to say, 'Let's sit down and talk about how we can get this back on the platter. And every request was shunned."

A petition went around to involve the attorney general's office, which includes a charitable trusts section. It was signed by 224 people, Mr. Jannini said.

The attorney general's office secured an injunction halting an auction scheduled for July 2008.

"People didn't want to see that stuff scattered to the four winds," Mr. Frederiksen said. "The reason you give an item to a historical organization is to highlight the heritage of a community, not to see it be sold for another purpose."

The parties huddled with the attorney general's office -- in particular Senior Deputy Attorney General Regis J. Schnippert, whom Mr. Smider commended for negotiating the deal, which was then signed on Tuesday by Judge Nalitz.

"I believe it's a win-win-win situation," Mr. Smider said.

A daunting task remains, though. Mr. Jannini estimated that $80,000 to $95,000 still needs to be raised through fundraising and grants to get the dilapidated building in a position to re-open as both a museum and council chambers.

That will probably not be at least until next year, Mr. Smider said.