Annual Report online

2014-15 Annual Report
Westford Historical Society
October 2014-September 2015
President’s Messag e
2014-15
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Geoffrey D. Hall,
President
Mike Harde,
Treasurer
Daniel P. Lacroix
Secretary
David S. Brody
James J. Clark
Leslie Howard
Sandra P. Johnston
Jack Mangan
Patricia L. Mason
Newell F. Tillman
MUSEUM DIRECTOR
Penny Lacroix
DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
Deborah Banerjee
This was an eventful year at the Westford Historical Society despite the ongoing construction at
the Museum. Parkerville was the featured exhibit in this year’s “Villages of Westford.” It began with
a kickoff featuring Kimball Farm ice cream at the Museum and continued with a multi-media
presentation that was given on several occasions throughout town. It concluded with a self-guided
tour of Parkerville with new geocaches released for the occasion. Additionally this year we
administered a very successful Westford research contest involving Westford Academy students.
We had a revival of the Military exhibit and a temporary Town Farm exhibit that spawned a great
deal of interest. Other events included a David Brody book signing and the installation of a custom
case for the plaster cast of the Westford Knight carving. Additionally, we were privileged to hear an
apple lecture with John Bunker and a Patriot’s Day concert (with support from the Westford
Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council) which
featured Westford and Boston-based musicians and included members of the Westford Chorus.
And once again we hosted the Great Wheel Revival and a St. Distaff’s Day celebration. In
September, we hosted local scholar Mary Fuhrer for a talk on New England Village Life in the Early
Republic, in cooperation with Freedom’s Way Heritage Association
Visitation to the Museum has been down this year due to the construction. The second floor had to
be closed, and getting everything up and running again is taking some time. For the first time in
years the third graders could not visit the Museum. However, Museum Director Penny Lacroix and
the Westford Academy Historical Society students took the Museum on tour to the schools and
provided informative presentations.
All of our volunteers have been invaluable assets to our organization over the last twelve months.
With the help of Andy Norander’s WA club members, we were
represented at the WA Holiday Bazaar and at the Strawberry Festival.
Three WA graduates supplemented their studies by committing
significant time to the Historical Society over the summer. This year
our volunteers clocked over 2500 hours at both the Museum and the
Historical Society offices.
This past year the Historical Society welcomed a new hire. Deb
Banerjee joined us as a part-time Development Director. She is
another great asset to our organization and we look forward to her
continued work as she helps us plan and carry out financial
development.
Our next “Villages of Westford” yearly theme features Graniteville.
Once again we are planning special exhibits and events that you won’t
want to miss. Our Museum and the Historical Society are a valuable
asset and I invite you all to give a little of your time to accomplish our
mission of stimulating interest in the history of our community.
Photo by Right Angle Photography, LLC
Respectfully submitted,
Geoff Hall, President
Me mbe rsh ip
& Dono r
Re por t
The newly restored cupola
Photo by D.P. Lacroix
Volunteers put
in over 2500 hours
during the past year.
Many thanks to all!
Up to $29
Mrs. Robert Abrahamson
Ms. Gloria Brown
Ms. Virginia Burnham
Ms. Phyllis Carrow
Ms. Elaine Cattel
Mary Anne Chillingworth
Ms. Barbara Clarke
Ms. Susan Collins
Mrs. Helena Crocker
Theresa Daly
Marilyn Day
Mr. Lewis G. Demetroulakos
Ms. Barbara Elwell
Ms. Carol Engel
Bill Ewers
Mr. Alvan Fisher Jr.
Mr. Steve Forde
Mr. and Mrs Don Galya
Mrs. Sandy Ingmanson
Mr. Athur Ickes
Mrs. Doris Karkota
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Lamburn
Michelle Long
Pat Louch
Shirley E. MacDougall
Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Mack
Ms. Joanna Paulsen
Ms. Barbara Therriault
Mr. and Mrs. Donald Trubey
Mr. Jack Wrobel
Mrs. Jackie Young
$30-49
Ms. Nancy Bissell
Mr. James Bogue
Marcia L. Chamberlain
Ms. Lisa Courchaine
Ms. Denali Delmar
Ms. Patricia Dubey
Mr. and Mrs. Ken Dubinski
Mr. and Mrs. Herb Elliott
Mr. and Mrs. Roy Erickson
Mr. and Mrs. Angelo Garafalo
Mr. Jeff Henry
Mr. Brian Herzog
Ms. Pamela Holland
Sandy Johnston
Jean Akers
Bill Barnett
Jim Bogue
Dave Brody
Mary Caldeira
Judy Cataldo
Arthur Chabot
Jim Clark
Doug Cook
Nora Daigle
Marilyn Day
Lexi Demetroulakos
Lara Dudley
Elizabeth Elliott
Nancy Ellis
Carol Engel
Geoff Hall
Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Keele
Dr. and Mrs. Andrew Kusmin
Beth Loring and Jonathan Chute
Jack Mangan
Elizabeth Marrow
Mr. Richard P McLaughlin
Mrs. Richard Mooney
Ms. Mary Partridge
Ms. Jeanne Roberts
Mr. and Mrs. Hitoshi Sano
Sandy and Melva-Jean Shepherd
Mr. Earl Sidelinker
Mr. Joseph Slowick
Mr. and Mrs. Steve Smith
Ms. Norma Treat
Mr. James VanBever
$50-99
Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Bonner, Jr.
David Brody and Kim Scott
Mr. and Mrs. Seth Cohen
Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Courchaine
Crawford-Dahl Family
Mr. Robert Ethier
JoAnne Lund and Dave Fox
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Frank
Ms. Susan Hall
Mr. and Mrs. Bill Harmon
Ms. Katherine Hollister
Leslie Howard
Ramirez Family
Chris Kandianis and James
Fitzgerald
Mr. and Mrs. Paul MacMillan
Mr. and Mrs. Donald Mayer
Mr. and Mrs. William McGrath
Ms. Laurie Miller
Ms. Rose O'Donnell
Diane Berner and Bradley Potts
Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Poulsen
Mr. and Mrs. Roger Reed
Mr. and Mrs. George Ripsom
Mr. Kelly Ross & Ms. Cindy Kahrs
Ms. Jeannette Shaw
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Stiling
$100-249
Mr. and Mrs. Donald Barth
Ellen Harde
Mike Harde
Jeff Henry
Stacie Hoffses
Pam Holland
Leslie Howard
Sandy Johnston
Dan Lacroix
Stephen Loikith
Pat Louch
Jack Mangan
Patti Mason
Lynn McLaren
Rich McLaughlin
John McNamara
Barb Meurer
Andy Norander
Linda S. Bailey
Mr. and Mrs. William Barnett
Jim and Carolyn Clark
Mr. Raymond Clark
Mr. and Mrs. Ed Connolly
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Daly
Mr. Paul Davies
Mr. and Mrs. Kent Dickey
Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Diercks
Mr. and Mrs. Brent Downing
Mr. and Mrs. David Earl
Mrs. Alan Emmet
Mr. Frank Gracia
Mr. Geoff Hall
Mr. and Mrs. John Healy III
Mr. and Mrs. Ron Johnson
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kennedy
Dan & Penny Lacroix
Mrs. Patti Mason
Mr. and Mrs. Brian O'Donnell
Bob & Bonnie Oliphant
Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Provost
Mr. and Mrs. Bob Shaw
Mr. and Mrs. David Sherrill
Joyce Carpenter and Tim Snow
Ms. Leslie Thomas
Mr. Newell Tillman
Ms. Roseann Vardaro
$250-499
Mr. and Mrs. Michael Harde
Mr. Robert Price
Mr. Mario Zocchi
$500 and above
Andrea Peraner-Sweet and
Mitchell Sweet
NCW Charitable Foundation
Niven Sinclair
Lifetime Members
Ms. Marilyn Day
Ms. Jeanne Fallier
Mr. and Mrs. Michael Harde
Mrs. Jane Hinckley
Mr. and Mrs. George Shepherd
Mr. Ken Tebbetts
Mrs. Jackie Young
Bob Oliphant
Joanna Paulsen
Rich Perry
Melissa Phillips
Dan Schlather
Beth Shaw
Bob Shaw
Mary Sherrill
Deb Slowick
Joe Slowick
Newell Tillman
Jim VanBever
Skip Walsh
David Weiss
The Westford Academy
Museum Club
The Westford Garden Club
Development
Re por t
VISITORS TO THE MUSEUM
OCT 2014-SEPT 2015
Sunday visitors/events:
328
Non-Sunday visitors:
41
Non-Sunday events:
180
Community groups/clubs: 313
School Groups:
136
Researchers:
56
Total:
1054
OUTREACH :
School visits:
Programs:
Total:
With the establishment of the
Development Director position in
December 2014, the formal activities
have been ramping up this year. To
date, I have begun to expand corporate
relations and sponsorship opportunities
by getting the word out about our
projects, making connections in the
community and networking with the
Westford Business Association.
We are seeking grants, corporate and
individual sponsorships to help us
upgrade lights, walls, paint, cases and
signs for the exhibits. The redesign of
the permanent exhibition will tell the
“Stories of Westford.” Some of the
exhibits we plan to implement are
Westford’s beginnings, local physicians
and medicine, the industries of
Westford, Westford’s role in the Civil
Rights movement, influential women of
Westford, and Westford Academy. We
look forward to the support of the
community in helping us create a lively
and exciting picture of our town.
Deb Banerjee,
Development Director
365
435
800
T hanks to our
Sponsors!
Noella LeDuc’s All-American Girls
Professional Baseball League card.
Noella is the only Westford native to
become a professional baseball player.
She played from 1951 through 1954.
WHS Collections are catalogued in
PastPerfect and are available online
through www.museum.westford.org.
4252 Objects
1296 Photos
171 Archives
761 Books
6464 Total items (6386 last year)
Fi nanci al Re por t
Income Statement
2014/2015
Earned Income
2 & 4 Boston Rd.
PO Box 411
Westford MA 01886
2013/2014
$6,169
$15,879
Contributed Income
$15,494
$15,306
Total Operation Income
$21,663
$31,184
Operating Expenses
$24,077
$35,729
Net Operating Surplus
($2,415)
($4,545)
Investment Income*
$4,310
$11,384
Net Surplus
$1,895
$6,840
*Unrealized Capital Gains + Dividends
Assets
06/30/2015
Unrestricted Cash
$5,504
Special Funds
Common Restoration
$3,093
Other Restricted
$1,087
Total Cash
$10,404
Endowment Funds
General Endowment
Fountain
Total Endowment Funds
PCA (at cost)
$61,186
$1,362
$62,548
$106,164
Mike Harde,
Treasurer
Faciliti es Re por t
978-692-5550
www.museum.westford.org
[email protected]
Without your support,
we’d be history!
The museum building is owned by the
town of Westford and is under the
care and custody of the Westford
Historical Commission. Over the past
year it has undergone extensive
restoration. A substantial portion of
the restoration involved the roof and
cupola support structures. The early
weathervane was restored with gold
leaf and the cupola’s copper roof was
painted the original chocolate color. A
perimeter drainage system was
installed to alleviate water problems in
the cellar and the handicap access
ramp was relocated to eliminate ice
forming on the ramp and roof runoff
from further damaging the clapboard
siding.
During construction we closed the
second floor, stored the exhibits and
made plans for improving the exhibit
space. These improvements included
covering 9 of the 11 windows to
provide additional display space and
improve energy conservation,
repairing ceiling damage and painting
the interior walls and doors with a
color scheme adopted from our new
branding. The Exhibits Committee
was also busy preparing new exhibits
to occupy the renovated space.
We are grateful for funding from the
Westford Community Preservation
Fund, the Massachusetts Historical
Commission and the Westford
Historical Commission. Further thanks
goes to Adams & Smith LLC,
Architects, and Structures North,
Structural Engineers, for their design
and to Campbell Construction LLC,
General Contractors, for all their hard
work. And finally, thanks to the
Middlesex County Sherriff's Office
Community Work Program for
providing a talented crew of painters.
Newell Tillman, WHS Board of
Directors