CLHO Member News

Organizations

The following CLHO members received grants from the Institute of Museum & Library Services (IMLS): New London County Historical Society for conservation project support and Middlesex County Historical Society, a CAP grant.

The Institute of Museum & Library Services (IMLS) and its cooperator, the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) announced the first round recipients of the IMLS Connecting to Collections Bookshelf. The program is part of a multi-year, multi-faceted national initiative to raise public awareness and inspire action to care for the collections held in public trust by libraries and museums throughout the United States. Priority was given to smaller institutions, but large museums and libraries with special collections were also eligible to apply. The following CLHO members have received their Connecting to Collections Bookshelf collections: American Clock & Watch Museum, Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich, Stanley-Whitman House Museum, Connecticut Landmarks, Norwalk Historical Society, Slater Memorial Museum, Norwalk Museum, Windham Textile Museum, and Weir Farm Art Center.

Welcome!

Q: Why should visitors make Kent Historical Society and Seven Hearths a destination?

A: The Historical Society has a great group of people involved, archives that are full of information, and a terrific photo collection, and Seven Hearths is not just another colonial house museum. For most of the 20th century, it was the home of George Laurence Nelson, one of the founders of the Litchfield Hills Art Colony. At the peak of his career, Mr. Nelson was considered one of the 10 best portraitists in America. When he died in 1978, he left Seven Hearths and all its contents to Kent Historical Society. We are in the process of reinterpreting Seven Hearths to showcase both its colonial heritage and that of Mr. Nelson. When we are done, we expect it to be a destination for artists and art historians as well as admirers of colonial architecture.

Q: What has been KHS's greatest accomplishment in recent years?

A: Building a small struggling society with less than 100 members and a small-unorganized board of directors into a thriving society with over 400 individual members and a strong committed board. We have over 70 volunteers and offer Husking Bees, Ice Cream Socials, Civil War Encampments, and active programs suggested by our members.  

Q: What are some of KHS's most interesting projects and activities?

A: Right now we are involved in two great projects: the reinterpretation of Seven Hearths and our 2008 summer exhibit, Pulling Kent Out of the Closet: Discovering Our Hidden Treasures, an unusual look at the social, economic and moral reasons behind fashion. With garments ranging from highly ornamented Victorian black crepe mourning clothes to a late 20th-century paper dress, this will not be just another costume exhibit. It will be at Seven Hearths, open on Saturday and Sunday afternoons from June 29 through Columbus Day.

Q: (Hypothetical) If a wealthy donor suddenly left KHS a million dollars, what would be among the first things it would do?

A: Our office, archives, and costume storage are in The Swift House. Our dream is to persuade the town to sell it to us for $1, and then we would use the million dollars to make it a spacious, climate-controlled home for all of the KHS collections, activities, and exhibits. If there was money left over, we would put the finishing touches on Seven Hearths. And additional staffing, and maybe a better Web site and . . . well, who can stop dreaming?

Q: (Something fun) What are some of the oddest objects in KHS's collections?

A: Anyone who wants the answer must come to Seven Hearths to meet her! Her name is Belinda and she lives there. She is over 150 years old. She used to model for Asher Durand, and when he no longer needed her services, she joined the household of George Laurence Nelson. No, she's not a ghost . . .

To find out more about the Kent Historical Society, please contact Marge McAvoy at 860-927-4587, or visit www.kenthistoricalsociety.org.

Compiled by Stacey Danielson and Elizabeth Montgomery, CLHO membership committee, after conversations with Marge McAvoy, executive director of Kent Historical Society.

The CHC intends that the new Heritage Resource Center (HRC) will be “the place” for collecting and distributing current museum literature, for conversation, and for networking. It will promote existing field services, from organizations including AASLH, AAM, NEMA, and the CLHO, while offering new programs customized for local museum professionals. The HRC will listen to the changing needs of the Connecticut museum community, adapt, and respond as necessary.

Creation of the new HRC and the associated coordinator position resulted from a yearlong environmental scan that evaluated the CHC’s effectiveness. The Council established a committee, interviewed dozens of staff and board members statewide, and conducted a series of focus groups to discover what new trends and challenges face the museum community in Connecticut today and how the CHC can best assist in meeting these challenges.

The committee identified three areas of great challenge: the necessity for understanding new audiences, the necessity to create and support effective leadership, and the necessity to enhance financial stability. The committee further outlined areas where the CHC could most effectively provide leadership, services, and funding to help heritage organizations address these issues.

In the fall of 2007, the CHC responded by overhauling and re-shaping its traditional granting programs into two granting strands: organizational effectiveness (inward looking) and community impact (outwardly focused).

The next phase of the process is the creation of the Heritage Resource Center and Field Services Program. The HRC will provide a vehicle to organize and distribute relevant research, current thinking, and best practices in the museum field and will function as both a physical and a virtual space. The HRC is the way that the CHC’s heritage staff will communicate with its constituents through Web-based means including a Weblog and commissioned articles, CHC-contracted circuit riders, seminars, and workshops.

Mr. Wands’ background is particularly well suited to serve as the CHC’s first Coordinator. He has worked for the past five years for Connecticut Landmarks supervising site staff and managing operations at the organization’s Greater Hartford area historic properties. Scott also served as technology coordinator for Connecticut Landmarks, maintaining the society’s computers. He serves as a board member and Awards Chair for the CLHO and as the State Team Captain for AASLH. A graduate of Amherst College, the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture at the University of Delaware, and a former Historic Deerfield Summer Fellow, Scott Wands is also a contributor to several historical and popular journals.

 As reported in the November Bulletin, the museum and antiques communities of Greater Hartford proved invaluable in transporting the historical society’s significant, sensitive collections to off-site climate-controlled storage facilities. J.P. Maguire and Associates led the initial restoration efforts by removing all water-damaged materials from the building and thoroughly drying out all water-soaked areas, a process which took more than a month. Special calibrators and tools that measured water content within the building’s wooden sections accurately determined the need for further dehumidification. Representatives from the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation provided technical advice and methodology during the drying process.

 With the Keeney Center dry, the slow restoration process moves forward today. Newly installed monitoring equipment tracks the changes in humidity in all collections spaces and off-site facilities. New insulation and acoustical tiles will replace the damaged ones, wood floors on the first and second floors will be refinished, and rubberized flooring in the building’s two stairwells replaced. Major portions of all three levels need repainting, including the decorative stenciling in Keeney Hall.

 Once restored, the building’s sensitive collections can return, exhibits can again welcome visitors, and the cultural and educational programming can resume. While the list of restoration projects is long, the society hopes to reopen the Keeney Center in April 2008. Director Doug Shipman speaks highly of everyone involved in the recovery and restoration efforts, “We had incredible support. I think it shows you that Wethersfield Historical Society has a good reputation, but more importantly people really value their history and want to save it. There still is a lot of work to be done. This building will be put together as well as, if not a little better than, it was before.”