[MassHistPres] Town Funding for Historical Societies

[David Temple]

I'm president of the Medfield Historical Society. Until the 1970s, the society  was housed in the Medfield public library, as part of the bequest of the man who gave the money to build the library in 1917.  The society was then moved to the adjacent building, the former Medfield Cooperative Bank, which the town had recently acquired as the library annex. The society pays the town a token $1 per year for rent, and the society responsible for all maintenance and repairs. 

In my view, this is the perfect building for the society, and the society is the perfect tenant for the building. The society would not exist but for the town, and the town would be much the poorer if there were no historical society.
 
In your reply, please include my original message. 

David Temple 
David F. Temple, Inc. 
300 South Street 
Medfield, MA 02052 
508-359-2915 



On Tuesday, September 30, 2014 3:28 PM, Joyce Anderson <jabanderson at gmail.com> wrote:
 

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>Hello Everyone,
>First, I would like to say how much I appreciate this forum. It is always helpful to share concerns and questions with others involved in the goal of preservation. 
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>My question arises from the role that historical societies play and whether or not the town should assist the them financially. Since the 1920’s, the Princeton Historical Society, has been privately funded by donations. Currently we are renting space in a town-owned building where we are paying over $2,000 a year in rent to the town. This space is used to display our town artifacts, including important historical documents. We have a small endowment but need to use some of that to pay our rent, so over time, the endowment has dwindled.
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>My question is, would it be realistic to expect the town to help fund a portion of our rent, and how can we go about changing a precedent that has been set? Are there any historical societies, that you know of, that have financial assistance from the town? Our goal would be to have the town pay our rent (or a portion of it) to help sustain the Princeton Historical Society.
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>Sincerely,
>Joyce AndersonPrinceton Historical Commission, past chair, and Princeton Historical Society, board member
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>Joyce Anderson
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>jabanderson at gmail.com
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