As acting director of Historic Northampton, Nancy Rexford worked every miracle needed to revitalize Historic Northampton for the residents of Northampton. From October 2014 to February 2016, Nancy did the work of three to four staff people as a volunteer.
During these 17 months, Nancy drove out to Northampton from her home in eastern Mass for multi-day stays, Mondays to Thursdays (and several times Mondays to Saturdays) and worked day and night, sleeping on the office floor to maximize her time to attend to the work that needed to be done.
Her campaign to preserve and stabilize the Damon, Parsons and Shepherd houses could not have met with greater success. She applied for and was awarded two community preservation grants to address deferred maintenance. With a team of professionals, she tackled and conquered every maintenance problem – asbestos, mold, knob and tube wiring, rotted posts and sills, a failing furnace, water entry, et cetera – from foundation to roof.
As treasurer, she obtained significant operating support grants to balance the budget for the first time in over a decade. Her work inspired an anonymous donor to offer the museum a $25,000 membership challenge grant. As a result, membership rose from 121 to 498.
At every moment, Nancy was guided by a deep belief that a historical society exists to serve the community by properly caring for the artifacts of the past entrusted to them and by creating structures through which current residents can preserve their own history.
One of these structures is Meadow City Historians, a new group of Northampton history researchers she established last November. I thank Nancy Rexford for selflessly and heroically stepping in to save Historic Northampton from an uncertain future and for miraculously turning the ship around towards a community-centered organization.
Marie Panik
Northampton