Anthony Museum awarded $10,000
North Adams Transcript staff
Posted: 04/04/2009 12:30:51 AM EDT
ADAMS -- The Adams Historical Society is contributing $10,000 to the Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum at 67 East Road.
Jack Tarsa, vice president of the society will present a check to Carol Crossed, representing the board of directors of the museum, on Friday, April 3.
Crossed purchased the historic home in 2006. Preservation has proceeded through two phases from foundation to roof top. "This donation comes just in time for the restoration of the first floor museum exhibit space," Crossed said. "We are overwhelmed by the generosity of the Adams Historical Society."
The museum received its tax-exempt status in 2008 and operates under a 10-year lease agreement with a museum board of directors.
According to local historian and President of the Adams Historical Society, Eugene Michalenko, part of the society's mandate is to encourage the preservation of historic buildings, monuments and markers.
"The Anthony homestead is not only a critical piece of Adams heritage," Michalenko said. "It is of national significance." The house is on the National Register of Historic Places that was built in 1818 by Susan B. Anthony's father, Daniel.
The Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum held an open house on February 15, the date of her birth in 1820, to share progress to date with the public toward the "Making of a Museum."
More than 250 local and area visitors came to see the museum before the final two phases of construction.
Restoration will continue through the summer toward an opening projected for Susan B. Anthony Days in August. Paint sampling and analysis has been conducted by a Rhode Island firm, and the architectural firm of Westall Architects has conducted early 19th century research at Historic Deerfield and other early 19th century communities toward authenticity of the restoration.
The Adams Historical Society collects, preserves and promulgates the history of Adams. The society collects memorabilia to illustrate the history of the area from its earliest roots.
The Adams Historical Society has published a newsletter for 30 years on topics of local history. It has conducted walking tours of the Maple Street Cemetery, Park Street, Summer Street and guided tours of five current or former churches in town.
It manages and staffs the East Hoosuck Friends Meeting House that was attended by the Anthony family. The society opens the Meeting House every Sunday from July to October.
For more information about the Adams Historical Society, visit
www.adamshistorical.org.
Click here to watch a video from our Open House
courtesy of iBerkshires
The historic birthplace of Susan B. Anthony in Adams, MA, will be the site for an Open House to celebrate the suffragist's birthday on Sunday, February 15, from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm. Located at 67 East Road, the Federal style home was built by Anthony's father, Daniel, in 1818 and his famous daughter was born there two years later. The house has been on the National Register of Historic Places for 24 years; the dream of making the house into a museum has persisted since 1910.
Carol Crossed purchased the home in 2006, on the celebrated 100th anniversary of Susan B. Anthony's death. Crossed announced that two phases of renovation and preservation were completed in 2008. "This is a rare opportunity for the public to walk through the house and enter the dream of making it into a museum," she said. " We have a new roof, a state of the art heating system and site stabilization. The second floor is a modern space for an office and storage. Guests will have an opportunity to register as friends and supporters of the museum and to offer written suggestions."
The Board of Directors launched the third phase of restoration by retaining the Williamstown firm of Westall Architects in January of 2009. The first floor of the house will be dedicated to memorializing the quest for Anthony's holistic view of human rights that will include slaves, the unborn, and women. The formative first seven years of Susan's life were lived in this house in a Quaker setting which instructed girls in the same fashion as boys. At least eleven area farm girls boarded with the Anthonys while working in her father's whole cloth textile mill, powered by a waterwheel on nearby Tophet Brook, part of the Hoosac River Watershed.
The plans for the museum will highlight the familial and regional influences which shaped Miss Anthony's early life. In addition to professional building assessments and environmental impact studies, the development of the museum includes cooperation with the Adams Historical Association and has employed textile and women's studies historians. The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.