Prretty scary, people.  

Mike Polk

Historical society sells artifacts to survive
Published: Friday, January 14, 2011, 6:00 AM
 
 By Star-Ledger Editorial Board 


 
Jerry McCrea/The Star-Ledger
The New Jersey Historical Society is selling some artifacts from its collection to pay debts totalling $2.6 million.
 
 
Call it a high-end garage sale, or a fabulous rent party: the New Jersey Historical Society is auctioning off prime artifacts from its collection to help pay the bills. You don�t have to be a historian to gasp at the $2.1 million sale last month of an extremely rare 1784 map of the United States. It had been in the historical society�s possession since 1862. No more. Other items will go on the auction block soon, including oil paintings, silverware and 18th-century furniture.

Something is dreadfully wrong when an institution cannibalizes itself to survive. It�s fair to ask whether the society correctly managed its meager resources over the years, and whether corporate and other donors could have been more generous, too.

Selling off part of a museum�s collection is considered by some to be unethical. But in this case, the society had little choice. Board president John Zinn told The Star-Ledger�s Peggy McGlone that the society had to retire $2.6 million in debt to continue operating, so clearly its back was to the wall. The historical society is the oldest nonprofit institution in the state, and like many older arts organizations in the region, began with private, not public, funding. And it has struggled.

"For many years, it�s been an institution run close to the edge," said Stanley Katz, director of the Princeton University Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies. "That�s true of many historical societies. They�re very marginal in their own communities and their mission is not clear." It doesn�t help that the society occupies a small building on Military Park in downtown Newark, not suitable for blockbuster exhibits that draw people and fill coffers.

Few historical societies would be able to survive on user fees or membership subscriptions alone. Only 5 percent of the New Jersey Historical Society�s budget comes from membership dues, and its annual state grant of nearly $300,000 was cut off this year. Great donors are hard to find in smaller cities, and like Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, are more likely to apply their millions to education reform, not the arts.

Rutgers historian Clement Price questioned the lack of wider corporate support. "Heritage and history, exhibits and collections help to give a state an identity," he said.
Zinn said the society will move away from exhibits and focus on its research library, archive and educational programs. That may be the only way for it to survive in the 21st century