About > Year in Review > President's Report
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Every day is a new opportunity.  You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind and start over again.  That’s the way life is, with a new game every day, and that’s the way baseball is.                               
Bob Feller, Cleveland Indians Pitcher (b. 1918- d. 2010)

Dear Friends,

During the past year, the Western Reserve Historical Society has taken the quote from baseball great Bob Feller to heart.  Both Board and staff have aggressively assessed the Society’s strengths and weaknesses and have energetically pursued new opportunities designed to revitalize and focus our mission and to effectively utilize our vast historical resources.  It has been a productive year for the Society on so many fronts.  In the interest of transparency, however, both our successes and failures are recorded in detail in this Fiscal Year 2011 State-of-the-Society report.    When you have the time, please take a look at our achievements for the period July 1, 2010-June 30, 2011. 

WRHS ended Fiscal Year 2011 with a small surplus.  This is the second year in a row that the Society has finished in the black.  Following the protocols established over the past few years, the Society adhered to the notion that revenues must equal expenditures.  We are a svelte operation with highly motivated staff and Board members, all of whom worked together to ensure that the Society would achieve financial stability as well as maintain its quality services and programs that allow the people of Northeast Ohio  access to their unique history and traditions.  In addition, we made great strides in lowering the Society’s debt load from $6.5 million in 2007 to just $140,000 as of Fiscal Year 2011’s end.

During the past year, WRHS received encouragement and support from many sources.  Our core supporters—our members, volunteers, and auxiliaries—invested their time, talent, and treasure unstintingly, and the larger community assisted WRHS by underwriting much needed capacity-building initiatives.  

Of utmost importance was the tremendous support we received from the William J. and Dorothy K. O’Neill Foundation, which gave us the largest portion of the funding for strategic/transformational planning.  The final funds needed to meet the project budget came from The Cleveland Foundation.   The Gund Foundation also funded a major initiative—the planning and implementation of a new, customer-friendly website, to be launched this October.   Both of these projects are critical to the Society’s future success. In addition, many generous donors secured the future of our Jewish Archives by completing the funding of a $2 million endowment established at the Jewish Federation of Cleveland.  Interest from this endowment will support the work of the Associate Curator on this important collection. 

One gift in particular created a stir within  Northeast Ohio—the announcement in May 2011 that the estate of Kathleen Crawford had established the Frederick C. and Kathleen S. Crawford Fund at the Cleveland Foundation to support the Crawford Collection, the nucleus of which was given to the Historical Society in 1962-63.  This collection of cars, planes and other transportation items, including the unique documentary resource, the Automotive Marque Files, will be cared for and made accessible to the public utilizing the interest generated by this $12 million endowment.

The Society also garnered support from the State of Ohio.  Funding released from the Ohio Cultural Facilities Commission (OCFC) allowed WRHS to stabilize and perform necessary restoration on the Hay-McKinney Mansion.  A reimbursement of $250,000 from the same source made it possible to reinvest in Hale Farm & Village’s infrastructure.  Monies allocated to WRHS by the State more than a decade ago were released to fund renovations to the History Center in University Circle.  WRHS is using this $2.8 million to enhance the visitor experience and to support environmental improvements necessary for collections care and display.  In addition to this, WRHS learned in late May that it would receive $195,000 per year for two years from the State of Ohio through the Ohio Historical Society for general operating support.

At the County level, Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, a nonprofit entity which distributes funds collected from the County Tobacco Tax, awarded the Society general operating support—approximately $275,000 per year for a two-year period.

Taking a line from the Roman Philosopher Seneca (mid-first century A.D.), “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”   And luck was with the Western Reserve Historical Society this past year. 

“Luck” of this magnitude does not mean that WRHS does not have to work hard to meet the expectations of its new mission—to inspire people to discover the American experience by exploring the tangible history of Northeast Ohio.  Ultimately, WRHS’s primary vision is to be the first stop onsite, offsite, and online in Northeast Ohio for the discovery and exploration of American history within the context of our region’s history.

The strategic planning which led to the new mission and vision began in November of 2010 and the plan, derived from this comprehensive process, was approved by the Board at a Special Meeting on September 12, 2011. This 11-month intensive project involved Board, staff, volunteers, and members.  In addition, WRHS reached out to current as well as potential audiences in order to discover what issues people thought were relevant and how we, as an institution, might be proactive in giving them information to make informed decisions.  We were also anxious to make sure that any offerings developed by the institution would meet the public’s needs.  Being proactive in our community has become one of our highest priorities.

Our strategic plan focuses on the next 3-5 years in preparation for the 150th Anniversary of our organization in 2017. To achieve our goals of positive public visibility, increased public access to our institution’s facilities and collections, and financial stability is not easy in this economic environment, but we have a solid plan. We are determined to be flexible and entrepreneurial in our outlook, and to adhere to our new core values:  Integrity, Stewardship, Connectivity, and Innovation.

We believe that the Society’s primary business is to bring history to the people of NEO through creative, hands-on, and interdisciplinary techniques.  This means our list of needed investments is long and the required funding is substantial.

We know that we must raise endowment funds to secure critical staff positions to provide access to and stewardship of our magnificent collections.  Among those positions that are key to achieving our long-term plans are: Director of Library, Curator of Costume & Textile Collection, Curator of Visual Presence, and Preservation Specialist, who will insure that our historic buildings and properties are restored correctly.

Our investment in new technologies will give the public greater access to our tangible assets—our extensive library and archival materials and our remarkable selection of three-dimensional objects.  We utilize these documents and artifacts to tell complete stories about the people of Northeast Ohio and their contributions to the broader narrative that is American history. WRHS must focus on digitizing its collections so people can see the depth and breadth of the “stuff” the Society cares for and displays.  Currently only 5% of our holdings are on view at any one time.  We intend to create the circumstances and methodologies that will allow us to physically display more of these items more often.  We must invest in the use of mobile apps, in social media, in online exhibits, in Wi-Fi and in long-distance learning to introduce our resources to a technologically savvy audience, not all of whom are under the age of 35.

We have committed ourselves to enhancing our visitor services Society-wide and to providing orientation tools to familiarize the public to our mission, vision, and resources by customer-friendly methods.  This means the development and implementation of orientation exhibits, videos, publications, and online access to our programmatic offerings.   We also think that the public will be interested in the unique historical products that we create based on our collections as well as food-based experiential activities.  Such a focus also demands that our clienteles are greeted and served by knowledgeable staff and well-trained volunteers who have adopted a “visitor-first mentality.”   Visitor services also encompass the physical conditions that create a comfortable environment for our guests—well-kept, well-landscaped grounds; clean bathrooms; and ADA accessibility to our facilities.

Over the past fiscal year, on all fronts, the Society served more than 750,000 people onsite, offsite, and online. Offsite and online visitation has begun to outstrip attendance at our sites.   Onsite admissions and program attendees numbered some 110,000.  Compare this to the 4.8million “hits” or 185,000 “unique” visitors to our website.  It is our job to encourage our audiences to explore and experience history in multiple ways and to understand its relevance to the present and the future—to “take history personally.”

On behalf of the Board of Directors and staff of the Western Reserve Historical Society, I want to thank all of our friends and supporters for being part of the Society’s remarkable turnaround and for allowing us to celebrate a successful 2010/2011.  Stay tuned for another exciting year!

Gainor B. Davis, Ph.D.
President/CEO