A fancy balustrade atop the Isaac Damon House on Bridge Street is a visible sign of a hopeful future for Historic Northampton, which two years ago was on the brink of financial disaster.
That the museum has any future at all is a testament to the hard work, dedication and vision of staff — most notably Nancy Rexford — along with board members, volunteers and community benefactors. They contributed to Historic Northampton balancing its budget, undertaking substantial repairs to its three historic homes, attracting new members and adding programs that draw more visitors to the campus at 46 Bridge St.
Kris Thomson, a restoration carpenter from Northampton, last week was finishing work on a second balustrade, a decorative railing which he described as “light and lacy, not heavy and bulky. It really is quite specific to the time period, and would have been very fashionable.” The two-story Damon House was built in 1813 by local architect Isaac Damon, who was known for constructing churches and covered bridges.
The restoration work is part of a strategic plan by the leadership of Historic Northampton to make the museum more attractive to local residents. “We’re trying to become more of a community space,” says co-Executive Director Laurie Sanders.
A year ago, after Sanders, a naturalist, and Elizabeth Sharpe, a historian, were named co-executive directors, the museum’s vice president, photographer Stan Sherer, who also serves as its unpaid program director, said, “It’s always seemed to me that Historic Northampton was a semi-invisible institution in Northampton. … I wanted the place to become both an intellectual and artistic center where history and the present become connected and made important.”
The museum had to overcome significant challenges to achieve that goal. When Rexford was named acting director in September 2014, she inherited an institution that had run operating deficits for five straight years, which totaled $448,584, and drained most of its trusts and cash reserves.
Moreover, much of the property was in disrepair, collections needed organizing and some artifacts were stored in moldy cardboard boxes in a basement, while others were covered in dust and grime in an attic held together with cargo strapping.
Rexford first worked at Historic Northampton between 1975 to 1984 as its curator of costume, assistant director and registrar. She organized its costume collection, which is recognized nationally. Rexford soon became a leading authority on American women’s clothing, and left Historic Northampton to consult with dozens of other museums and historical societies.
She returned to Historic Northampton in 2013 as treasurer of the board, and decided that the museum could no longer afford to pay an executive director. She took on that unpaid job in 2014 at age 67, and at times wore a hazmat suit to remove rotting and vermin-infested insulation under the Parsons House (built circa 1730) and filled holes in foundations with steel wool to keep out rats and mice. She slept on an office floor at night.
Rexford worked with a board of directors that has largely been reconstituted since 2014 to secure grants from the city’s Community Preservation Committee that now total more than $300,000, to pay for restorations. Under her leadership, Historic Northampton added 500 new members and contributions increased from $5,000 to $44,000 in a year.
When Rexford ended her stint as acting director in March 2016, the board added to the museum’s website a tribute which concludes: “The museum is alive and well thanks to Nancy. … Thanks to her heroic leadership, we have a sound financial footing and we can continue her work to build Historic Northampton into a community-centered organization.”
In addition to continued restoration of its buildings and collections, part of that mission under Sanders and Sharpe is to broaden its reach so it attracts new audiences. “It will be an evolution,” Sanders said when she was named co-director. “But I think in the last year and a half the organization has really pulled a lot of pieces together and is now on a different trajectory.”
That upswing continues with a contemporary art series, walking tours, lectures and ties to larger social movements such as the recent exhibit “Punishment in Paradise” that examined the city’s history as part of national policies on mass incarceration.
After the grim news just two years ago, the 112-year-old Historic Northampton is now stable and we expect it will continue as a valuable resource for years to come.