NTHP Conference, Day 2

Thursday afternoon I met Peter outside work again, since he had some meetings he couldn't miss in the morning. I went to a session called, "The Historic House Museum for the 21st Century - Introducing New Approaches for Engagement and Relevancy." It basically used the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site (where Roosevelt was inaugurated after McKinley was shot at the Pan Am Expo in Buffalo in 1901) as a model for how house museums can focus their missions and use new technologies to engage visitors, and thus increasing revenue and visitor numbers. It was very interesting to see what they've done. I've only been to it after they installed their new exhibits, but I was impressed.

Carol Grieco, who is on Amherst's Historic Preservation Commission with me, was telling me the day before about how she helped to save the building. The Junior League heard that some people wanted to tear down the building (the Wilcox mansion) to make a parking lot. She and other members of the Junior League started approaching business leaders and prominent people to help raise money to save it. And they did. They were able to raise enough money to buy it and get the ball rolling to start with the restoration. She also said that before they could buy it, the family had an estate sale and sold almost all of the home's original furnishings. They put a piece in the paper about how they were hoping to retrieve the pieces that had been sold. And they got quite a bit back - she said it was amazing what would show up on the doorstep. It was very inspiring to think that some people who just cared about a building and its importance in history would work to save it and see what it is now. The session was standing room only and people were oohing and aahing about what they had done.

The next session I went to was called, "Keeping the Wheels On: The Nuts and Bolts of Historic Preservation Commission Operation." This session was also very good and I think will be very helpful for us in  moving forward and setting our priorities. I think the main takeaways are that we need to become more familiar with our law and the formalities. If we don't do some things exactly right, our decisions can be overturned not because they are bad decisions, but that the procedure wasn't followed correctly. That would be very sad. I think we also need to do better about planning. They suggested having a yearly retreat to talk about goals, what went right in the past year, what we can do better, etc. I think we also need to get out in the community more and work on education projects. I have some ideas and I think we are all energized to get some things done, so it's exciting. I just wish I had more time to devote.

After that meeting we went to dinner at the Buffalo Club. This was amazing. It is located in a beautiful mansion on Delaware Avenue. The Club itself was founded in 1867 by former US President Millard Fillmore, among others. It was originally an all-male club, but they decided to let women join in It moved into its current location in 1887. Gail Adema on our commission is a member there, so we were able to eat in their "informal" dining room.

Everything was so beautiful. There was beautiful dark wood paneling over everything. Ceilings were probably 12-15 feet high. The doors were huge, and the banisters were amazing - huge, wooden, railings and balusters. It was really incredible.

Another interesting thing about it is that after McKinley was shot, the White House cabinet met in the Buffalo Club to run their meetings before returning to Washington, DC.

Erie County Executive Chris Collins was there, probably doing a fundraiser, since he is up for reelection last month. I passed by him near one of the rooms. I tried to make eye contact with him, but he completely ignored me. Oh well. At least I now know who I'm voting for.

Their art collection was also amazing. Every room had beautiful paintings covering the walls. It was all just amazing and I was so glad to have the opportunity to go there, since I very likely never will again. I don't know how much membership costs, but I'm sure it's out of our wildest dreams, and you have to be sponsored by two people to even be considered.

After dinner and a tour of the Club, I went to the Albright-Knox and Burchfield-Penney art galleries. I had never been to either one before. Conference attendees got in for free for the program called "Museums by Moonlight." Regular people had to buy tickets for $35. I was kind of sad to not be able to see all of the things that were open (there were a couple of other venues), but I decided it was more important to spend the time to really see the Buffalo Club, since that is more exclusive.