[MassHistPres] Historical Societies in Public Buildings

[Russ Feldman]

The Newton Historical Society has, since 1950, occupied the Jackson Homestead, a building owned by the City of Newton.  The city maintains the Jackson Homestead Department of city government, run by a departmental director, who reports to the Mayor and which has a board of trustees appointed by the Mayor and approved by the Board of Aldermen.  The Newton Historical Society is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a board of directors elected by Society members.  The two entities operate as a public private partnership under a Joint Board presently doing business as Historic Newton.  The city department was created by ordinance, the society has bylaws and both entities have a variety of formal agreement documents and policies.  I'd say the documentation is fairly extensive for an organization this size.
Staff are managed by the city department director who serves as both director of the Jackson Homestead department and executive director of the Society.  The Joint Board is chaired by the society president and managed by an executive committee that consists of both trustees and directors.  The Society owns the Durant-Kenrick House and Grounds, an 18th C property which is maintained by the nonprofit and has a separate budget.  The Durant-Kenrick augments the Jackson Homestead Museum, which is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. 
The city provides approximately half of the staff and the society the rest.  Program funds are generally provided by the society.  The society does not pay anything for use of the Homestead but, besides staff and program funding, it has occasionally raised matching funds or provided gratis labor for work on the city property.
It's a very useful partnership both from the standpoints of grant fund-raising and community-building.
Full disclosure: I am presently a trustee and have served as a director and society president.
I hope this is helpful.


M. Russel Feldman, AIA, NCARB, Principal
TBA Architects, Inc.
43 Bradford Street Suite 300
Concord, MA 01742
Office   (781) 893-5828 
Mobile (617) 429-5033

2015 Best Educational Buildings over 10,000 s.f., Modular Building Institute
A+ Accredited by the Better Business Bureau

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Sent: Thursday, October 08, 2015 12:00 PM
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