Last month, we were grateful to have over 120 people join us – despite light rain – for the ribbon cutting for our new Collections Center. Since its founding in 1921, the East Hampton Historical Society has established a world-class collection of nearly 20,000 artifacts documenting our community’s cultural heritage. According to textile curator, Lynn Bassett, our collection includes extremely rare and important items that would be treasured in any historical collection in the nation. And now, 45 years after the idea to build a centrally located, climate-controlled storage center was first proposed, we finally have a facility worthy of housing our world-class collection. And now, 45 years after the idea to build a centrally located, climate-controlled storage center was first proposed, we finally have a facility worthy of housing our world-class collection.
Not long after I joined the Historical Society nearly five years ago, a curator from the Winterthur Museum came to see some objects in our collection. When I expressed some embarrassment about the storage conditions, he said, “don’t worry, I’ve seen worse.” I told him, we’re in East Hampton, we should not be in the “I’ve seen worse” category. Fast forward to this past summer, I along with Anna Muller, our Curator of Collection (who was instrumental in the success of this project) gave a tour of the new Collections Center to a group of museum professionals. While they were very impressed with the building itself, several of them really wanted to know was – How did we fundraise for a 5,500 sq. ft. storage facility?I explained that it was a credit to the incredible leadership of the Board of Trustees and the recognition by a committed group of supporters – especially the New York State Council on the Arts and the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation – that we had to secure the collection’s long-term preservation. Also, we depended on the generous in-kind contributions of Ben Krupinski Builder and Bruce Siska Architect.
One of the reasons it took over 45 years to complete the Collections Center is that it’s truly one of the most unsexy museum projects imaginable. It’s not like a visitors center or exhibit wing, which the public regularly gets to see. In fact, I was recently told that nobody wants to pay for shelving, security systems, or electrical wiring in a capital campaign. I am deeply grateful for the generosity of so many members in our community who did.
Sincerely, Steve Long, Executive Director