[MassHistPres] Town Funding of Historical Societies--Princeton

Thu Oct 2 21:41:34 EDT 2014

In Plympton our Town's Historical Society has a very similar relationship as referenced in Medfield. 

Nominal rent of $1 for the Old Town House and the Historical Society has kept up with maintenance and repairs. It has requested and received CPA funds for a couple projects which could also be seen as being supported by taxpayers, but now the building is much more accessible for residents (including handicap accessibility) and can be used for meeting space and for certain events in addition to displaying and keeping many town historical artifacts. The historical society also pays for utilities. 

Glad to discuss if you wish. 

Best,
Jon Wilhelmsen, Chair
Plympton Historical Commission

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Today's Topics:

  1. Re: Town Funding for Historical Societies (David Temple)
  2. Re: Town Funding for Historical Societies (Judy Markland)

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Message: 1
Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2014 08:07:43 -0700
From: David Temple <davidftemple at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Town Funding for Historical Societies
To: Joyce Anderson <jabanderson at gmail.com>,    Masshistpres
   <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Message-ID:
   <1412176063.94976.YahooMailNeo at web120202.mail.ne1.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

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:

> 
> 
> 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. 
> 
> 
> 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.
> 
> 
> 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.
> 
> 
> Sincerely,
> Joyce AndersonPrinceton Historical Commission, past chair, and 
> Princeton Historical Society, board member
> 
> 
> Joyce Anderson
> 
> jabanderson at gmail.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
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Message: 2
Date: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 15:01:33 -0400
From: Judy Markland <jmarkland at lmstrategies.com>
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Town Funding for Historical Societies
To: Joyce Anderson <jabanderson at gmail.com>,    Masshistpres
   <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Message-ID: <6.1.2.0.2.20141001144936.0448adf0 at localhost>
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Joyce,
I'd be very interested in the responses that you get.

How much space do you get for your $2000/year?  And does the town cover 
utilities, insurance, snow plowing and the like?   I'm wondering what a 
comparable rent would be from a private landlord.   Do you have any 
idea?  That might be helpful to know before you approach anyone in the town.

The town of Whately, population 1500, is letting the Historical Society use
one room in a former two-room elementary school and also a small storage
room in the basement of the library.  No rent is charged, but the Society
does contribute to the upkeep of the school building when there is an
extraordinary expense.  The town provides basic insurance, utilities, heat
and maintenance of the grounds.

Judy Markland
Whately

At 03:28 PM 9/30/2014, Joyce Anderson wrote:
> 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.
> 
> 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.
> 
> 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.
> 
> Sincerely,
> Joyce Anderson
> Princeton Historical Commission, past chair, and Princeton Historical 
> Society, board member
> 
> Joyce Anderson
> <mailto:jabanderson at gmail.com>jabanderson at gmail.com
> 
> 
> 
> ******************************
> For administrative questions regarding this list, please contact 
> Christopher.Skelly at state.ma.us directly.  PLEASE DO NOT "REPLY" TO THE 
> WHOLE LIST.
> MassHistPres mailing list
> MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu
> http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/mailman/listinfo/masshistpres
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