Historic Cherry Hill
Contents -- June 2006
- Times Book Review Highlights Cherry Hill 'Bunnie Papers'
- Community Foundation Grant Helps Visitors Hear A Great Story
- Staffing Analysis Yields Interesting Findings
- Fall Calendar Notes
- From the President and Director
Times Book Review Highlights Cherry Hill 'Bunnie Papers'
Historic Cherry Hill staff had been anticipating for months the publication of a new scholarly work, Pets in America: A History, written by Katherine C. Grier, Professor of Material Culture Studies at the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture, Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library and the University of Delaware. Grier began her research for the book in the 1980s and was aided greatly by Cherry Hill Researcher Maxine Lorang as she explored the imaginary world of the Rankin children's "Bunnie States of America."
It was thrilling to discover, therefore a review in the March 26 edition of the New York Times Book Review, and even more thrilling to read Alida Becker's conclusion to the review:
"But the most inspired pet-keeping was surely practiced by the Rankin children of late 19th-century Albany, who turned a hutchful of rabbits 'rescued from their fate as someone's dinner' into a carefully documented kingdom that was reorganized as a republic, complete with a declaration of independence, a census, a postal system and taxes. Over the years, the Bunnie States of America spun off a map company and a medical college. Its calendar included a legal holiday, Fish Day, on which the family goldfish was released into the bathtub. The longevity of the entire enterprise can perhaps be attributed to Article I of its constitution: 'No one can sulk' in a meeting."
Grier's fascinating and richly illustrated book includes 12 pages devoted to Edward Elmendorf (Eddie), Herbert, and Emily Rankin's childhood business pursuits, and highlights several documents from the collection that was later named the "Bunnie Papers" by their mother, Catherine Rankin, including a "Declaration of Independence," Bunnie States stamps, a Coat of Arms, a map of the "States" and a trade card, all created by the children.
Pets in America was published by The University of North Carolina Press and is available on Amazon. com (and if you access Amazon via the Museum Association of New York's website at manyonline.org, MANY receives a small donation).
The Historic Cherry Hill family is grateful to Grier for citing Maxine Lorang as co-author of the Bunnie States essay as a "small tribute that I can make in her memory."
[contents]Community Foundation Grant Helps Visitors Hear A Great Story
Historic Cherry Hill is pleased to announce that it has received a grant in the amount of $6,854 from the Community Foundation for the Capital Region. With the grant funds, the museum has purchased an Assistive Listening Device (ALD) system, enabling the museum to better serve existing audiences and to be able to serve an audience not effectively served in the past--those who are moderately or severely hard-of-hearing.
Through the years, the museum has made significant efforts to serve audiences with varying disabilities or special needs, and has made good progress by adding touchable objects to its tours and education programs, building a fully ADA compliant, accessible research and storage facility, developing special tours for developmentally disabled and English as a Second Language (ESL) groups and providing interpretive alternatives for visitors with physical disabilities who are unable to navigate the historic structure.
While all of these initiatives have made the museum and its programs far more accessible to a wide range of audiences, a recent analysis of visitor statistics and demographics makes it clear that the site's largest disabled audience--one whose needs have not effectively been met--is comprised of those with hearing loss. And because the aging "baby boomer" generation comprises a major portion of its visitors, the museum anticipates that this special needs population will continue to grow.
After researching possible systems and solutions to meet the needs of this core audience, the museum identified a system distributed by Tour-Mate Systems Canada Ltd, called "Listen Tech." "Listen" is an FM product, employing radio waves to broadcast an audio signal to receivers. It is a versatile, extremely easy to use and maintain system that helps visitors with varying hearing loss fully enjoy the tour experience at Cherry Hill.
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association defines an Assistive Listening Device as "any type of device that can help you function better in your day-to-day communication situations. An ALD can be used with or without hearing aids to overcome the negative effects of distance, background noise, or poor room acoustics." The Association describes FM based systems as similar to a "miniature radio station", which operates on special frequencies assigned by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In its application at Historic Cherry Hill, the system will be comprised of a transmitter and microphone worn by the interpreter, and receivers with earphones worn by the visitors. The receiver brings the sound from the transmitter to a visitor with or without a hearing aid through direct audio input.
Potter Kristee Iacobucci demonstrates use
of a kick wheel for visitors to the
7th Annual Albany History Fair held on May 7.
Staff and interpreters will be trained to use the new system at the end of June, and look forward to offering this new service to visitors during the busy summer season. The support of the Community Foundation for the Capital Region for this important initiative is greatly appreciated.
[contents]Staffing Analysis Yields Interesting Findings
As previously reported, Historic Cherry Hill recently worked with evaluation consultant Catherine Harris on a New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA)-funded Get Set! project (the Get Set! Grants for Museum Advancement program is administered by the Upstate History Alliance).
The objectives of this Get Set! project were: 1) assess the long-term staffing needs (both professional and volunteer) as outlined in the museum's 2003-2007 Strategic Plan; 2) involve all staff in a process of internal review that will offer them a voice; and 3) provide some groundwork for the AAM re-accreditation process.
In her Executive Summary, Harris wrote: "HCH administration and staff should be commended for participating in this study. Ordinarily, projects such as this are rare in museums, leaving institutions open to many unanswered questions regarding employee satisfaction, productivity, personnel turnover and staffing/institutional direction....staff offered much valuable and thoughtful insight. Due to their combined efforts, significant and far-reaching knowledge was gained."
Through the study, the museum indeed gained valuable insight into not only our future needs, but issues relating to our current workplace culture, including staff perceptions of HCH and its mission, redundancy in work, communication, space needs, segmentation of work/program areas, the volunteer program, and more. One of the most interesting observations that came out of the project is that Cherry Hill staff and volunteers "think big", an outcome of the development of an array of award-winning programs, projects and publications.
Work has already begun to resolve many issues, and Catherine's report has been shared with the Board of Trustees so that the museum can effectively plan for the addition of needed staff positions. Our first priority will be to segregate the position of Volunteer Coordinator from that of Program Assistant--both functions are currently being ably fulfilled by one part-time person, Linda Dunkerley. The museum will then be far better able to mount a pro-active volunteer recruitment campaign. Adding a salaried maintenance position is another priority, as all maintenance needs have historically been met on a contract basis, which is not always the most cost effective or beneficial approach to the ongoing preservation of a historic structure. Future issues of the newsletter will keep readers apprised of the museum's progress in meeting the report's recommendations.
[contents]Fall Calendar Notes
Historic Cherry Hill will present two special tours during October.
The first is part of the Albany Heritage Area Visitors Center's "Tours of Albany" series. On Saturday, October 7 at 10 a.m., Cherry Hill Education Director Becky Watrous and Curator Erin Crissman will offer a tour at the Albany Rural Cemetery focusing on the Van Rensselaers of Cherry Hill. At least a dozen Cherry Hill family members and household servants are buried at the cemetery. Tour participants will hear snippets of Cherry Hill family stories illustrating one Albany family's response to a changing world. Highlighted will be original owner Philip Van Rensselaer (first Town Supervisor of the Town of Bethlehem), family war hero Solomon Van Rensselaer, John Whipple (victim of the 1827 murder at Cherry Hill), third generation owners Peter and Harriet Elmendorf, the fourth and fifth generation Rankin family, and household servant Minnie Knapp, who worked for the Cherry Hill family for 50 years. Cost for the tour is $5. See registration form at right.
Back by popular demand, the two-hour "Behind-the-Scenes Murder Investigation Tour" will next be presented on Saturday, October 28. For information or to reserve your place (space is limited), contact Education Director Becky Watrous at (518) 434-4791; becky@historiccherrhill.org. Special rates for members!
[contents]From the President and Director
When was the last time you actually welcomed an audit? Always eager to professionalize all aspects of its operations, Historic Cherry Hill recently engaged development and management consultant Ann McGuiness, a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) to conduct a Development Audit for the museum. As reported in the last issue of Keeping Place, Keeping Pace, we recognize that we must begin to focus in earnest on fund raising. Towards that end, the Board of Trustees identified the need for outside professional counsel, and felt that undertaking a review of our past fundraising and development programs would help lay important groundwork for enhancing future efforts.
As part of the audit, McGuiness conducted dozens of interviews with key Cherry Hill stakeholders, including volunteers, Board members, staff and donors. Through these interviews and review of the museum's fund raising materials, proposals, reports, financial documents, plans and program descriptions, she concluded:
"Historic Cherry Hill is a dynamic historic museum with extraordinarily dedicated and competent staff, volunteers and members. Its dedication to professionalism and excellence along with its highly acclaimed interpretive and educational programs has created a well respected historical institution. It certainly holds a unique place in Albany and the Capital Region. HCH however, suffers financial and fund raising dilemmas not unlike many organizations of its kind. If HCH is to survive and thrive it must develop an aggressive and comprehensive fund raising program and dedicate the same level of professionalism to this effort as it has to HCH's programs and operations."
McGuiness has recommended a three-pronged strategy to meet Cherry Hill's goal of stabilizing current funding and building future capacity. Facets include launching a capital/endowment campaign, establishing a Bequest Society, and building a more formal Annual Fund.
With full Board and staff commitment, the next several months will be comprised of essential planning critical to implementing these three strategies. Work will focus on developing a Case for Support, recruiting campaign leadership, establishing the Bequest Society, identifying and training Annual Fund chairs and more.
We are excited about the role we all play in securing Cherry Hill's future, and look forward to inviting you to play a role as well. Stay tuned!
Kathleen Quandt, President
Liselle LaFrance, Director
[contents][top]
Back