See also: Oldest buildings in America
Historic New England , previously known as the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities ( SPNEA ), is a charitable, non-profit, historic preservation organization headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is focused on New England and is the oldest and largest regional preservation organization in the United States. Historic New England owns and operates historic site museums and study properties throughout all of the New England states except Vermont, and serves more than 150,000 visitors and program participants each year. Approximately 36,000 visitors participate in school and youth programs focused on New England heritage.
Historic New England is a museum of cultural history which collects and preserves buildings, landscapes, and objects dating from the seventeenth century to the present and uses them to keep history alive and to help people develop a deeper understanding and enjoyment of New England life and appreciation for its preservation.
History
William Sumner Appleton, Jr. founded the Society for the Preservation of new England Antiquities in 1910 for "the purpose of preserving for posterity buildings, places and objects of historical and other interest." Fearing that "our New England antiquities are fast disappearing because no society has made their preservation its exclusive object," Sumner Appleton and a small group of like-minded individuals founded SPNEA in 1910. By 1920, Director of Museums Harry Vinton Long wrote in his report that the museum’s purpose was "to preserve and illustrate the life of New Englanders..." The history of New Englanders encompasses the stories of family life, immigration, school girls' routines, servants' duties, the enslaved Africans, and the products of masons, carpenters, and furniture makers.
Accession records for 1910 list 19 items. Appleton considered everything from the mundane to the singular worth preserving, and so Historic New England's collection today ranges from everyday cakes of soap to extraordinary specimens of fine furniture. As a comprehensive heritage organization, Historic New England today cares for historic properties and landscapes; holds preservation easements and undertakes preservation advocacy work to protect historic properties; develops, maintains and interprets artifact collections; operates a library and archive; researches and publishes books and Historic New England magazine; and provides educational programs for children and adults. The organization's mission statement outlines its goals: "We serve the public by preserving and presenting New England heritage." The organization focuses on New England domestic architecture, collections and stories.
Founder William Sumner Appleton was succeeded as Director by Bertram K. Little, Abbott Lowell Cummings and Nancy R. Coolidge before the title of the chief executive officer was changed to President, with Jane C. Nylander and now Carl R. Nold serving in that capacity.
Historic properties/museums
Historic New England currently owns and operates 36 house museums and landscapes across New England, representing nearly 400 years of architecture, as well as a wide-ranging collection of more than 100,000 objects of historical and aesthetic significance (the largest assemblage of New England art and artifacts in the country). It also archives more than 1,000,000 items documenting New England architectural and cultural history, including photographs, prints and engravings, more than 20,000 architectural drawings and specifications, books, manuscripts, and ephemera. A Collections Access Project will provide Internet-based access to comprehensive catalog data about nearly all of the collections, to go on-line by the organization's centennial in 2010. A Collections and Conservation Center is located in a northern Massachusetts mill town, in a former shoe factory building. While not open to the public, this facility provides for the proper care of collections and access to collections and collections information for curators, students and scholars. Other museums also rent space for collections storage in this facility.
Exhibition programs
A traveling exhibition program presents collections and research to the general public, in cooperation with other museums throughout the region. New exhibitions for 2009 will include America's Kitchens , opening at New Hampshire Historical Society () in June; Drawing Toward Home , and architectural drawing exhibition that opens at Boston University Art Gallery in November 2009 and travels to the National Building Museum in Washington D.C. during 2010; and a centennial exhibition entitled The Preservation Movement Then and Now which will appear in all six New England states beginning in late 2009 and continuing into 2011.
On line exhibitions include Jewelry at Historic New England , found at , The Preservation Movement Then and Now , at , From Dairy to Doorstep: Milk Delivery in New England, 1860-1960 at , and New England Photographs of Verner Reed , at .
Stewardship Easement Program, Preserving Privately-Owned Historic Homes
Through its Stewardship Program, established in the early 1980s, Historic New England holds preservation restrictions on 74 privately owned New England properties, and works with the owners to ensure preservation of the character-defining historic features. The program provides comprehensive protection of exterior, interior and landscape features and is considered a national model for the protection of buildings that remain in active use and in private ownership. Approximately half of the properties in the program were previously owned by Historic New England, and were returned to private ownership with preservation restrictions that continue in perpetuity. The balance of the properties were enrolled by current or former owners, who donated the deed restrictions to the organization along with endowment fund contributions. Endowment funds provide for the monitoring and enforcement of the easements, carried out by a full time staff dedicated to that purpose.
Membership programs
A Historic Homeowner program, available to all for an annual membership fee, provides information to those who own historic houses of any age, up to and including mid-20th century homes. The annual membership includes two consultations with staff experts, one on historic paint colors and a second on a topic chosen by the member, ranging from window repair to roofing materials, hardware source or historic wallpaper selections, or other topics needed for the care of historic homes. Other specialized membership programs focus on Gardens and Landscapes, and on young adults through the Young Friends program, and an upper-level membership society called the Appleton Circle provides benefactor support for organizational programs.
Governance
Historic New England is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit organization which operates under the direction of a 23-member board of trustees.
Properties
- Connecticut: Roseland Cottage.
- Maine: Castle Tucker, Hamilton House, Sarah Orne Jewett House, Marrett House, Nickels-Sortwell House, and Sayward-Wheeler House.
- Massachusetts: Beauport, Sleeper-McCann House, Boardman House, Browne House, Codman House, Coffin House, Cogswell's Grant, Cooper-Frost-Austin House, Winslow Crocker House, Dole-Little House, Gedney House, Gropius House, Lyman Estate, Merwin House, Harrison Gray Otis House, Pierce House, Josiah Quincy House, Rocky Hill Meeting House, Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm, Stephen Phillips House and Swett-Ilsley House.
- New Hampshire: Barrett House, Gilman Garrison House, Richard Jackson House, Governor John Langdon House, and Rundlet-May House.
- Rhode Island: Arnold House, Casey Farm, Clemence-Irons House, Watson Farm.
Function rentals at Historic New England properties
The Lyman Estate in Waltham, Mass., and the Codman House Carriage House in Lincoln, Mass., provide unique historic settings for private functions ranging from weddings to corporate events and training programs. The grounds of the historic Governor John Langdon House in Portsmouth, N.H. are also available for weddings and private events.
The Lyman Estate, also known as The Vale, was built in 1793 by wealthy shipping magnate Theodore Lyman. Originally used as a summer home, the Federal-style mansion was designed by renowned Salem architect Samuel McIntire. The Estate remained in the Lyman family until 1952, when the five Lyman heirs donated it to the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, now known as Historic New England. The property is now a National Historic Landmark and is available for rental for weddings and private parties.
The Codman House grounds are a prospect of farm and pleasure grounds, a gentleman's country seat that was a powerful force in the lives of five generations of the Codman family. In the 1790s, John Codman carried out extensive improvements to the original Georgian house and surrounding grounds. Each generation of Codmans to live here left their mark, and the estate that was originally a country retreat gradually came to symbolize the family's distinguished past. The grounds feature a hidden Italianate garden, c. 1900, with perennial beds, statuary, and a reflecting pool filled with waterlilies, as well as
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