On March 15th the Lower East Side Tenement Museum received an $800,000 challenge award from The Kresge Foundation, an independent private foundation created by the personal gifts of Sebastian S. Kresge. This generous and prestigious award will be used to assist The Tenement’s Orchard Street Campaign, a $15 million capacity building campaign that increase its programmatic and administrative space and build a strong foundation for future growth. The Kresge Foundation’s contribution will help leverage private donations to complete the Campaign.
Established to build its capacity to welcome new visitors, the Orchard Street Campaign’s goal is to enable The Tenement Museum to increase visitorship. According to Ruth Abram, President, “The Tenement has been forced to turn visitors and school groups away despite being open 361 days a year, 7 days a week, and offering tours every 20 minutes.” Funds raised by the Campaign will allow The Tenement Museum to purchase and renovate new space to meet visitor demand, stabilize its national historic landmark building at 97 Orchard Street to allow the installation of new permanent exhibits, and build a solid base for expansion through the establishment of its first endowment.
Rip Rapson, President and CEO of The Kresge Foundation, stated “With the aid of this challenge grant, we hope [The Tenement Museum’s] campaign can become an even more strategic opportunity …to connect and reach out to new donors, volunteers, participants, and general community. Your compelling plan to sustain the higher levels of giving after the campaign concludes will help strengthen your organization well into the future.”
The Kresge Foundation’s core grant making activity is its Capital Challenge Grants program. A major focus of The Kresge Foundation is to promote endeavors that fortify nonprofit leadership and encourage generosity through challenge grants for capital projects.
One hundred and seventy-five years ago, when most of Manhattan was countryside and forest, and Andrew Jackson was president, Joseph Brewster built a brick and marble rowhouse on Fourth Street in what was then a quiet, exclusive suburb of the city.
In 1835, just three years later, the house was purchased by a prosperous hardware merchant, Seabury Tredwell, and the Tredwell family continued to live in the house for almost 100 years.
Today, miraculously, that merchant’s house still stands, though more than once it has come close to the brink of being lost forever.
The last surviving member of the family, Gertrude Tredwell, who had been born in the house in 1840, died in the house in 1933. Her cousin, George Chapman, recognizing the historic value of a 19th-century home that still retained its original furniture and family possessions, purchased the house, and after making extensive repairs, opened it as a museum on May 11, 1936.
For 25 years, Chapman provided almost all of the museum’s support with his personal funds, but by 1959, when he died, time had caught up with the old house and it was perilously close to being beyond repair.
In 1962, after limping along for three years with temporary caretakers, the museum was taken over as a project of the Decorators Club of New York City. They hoped, by raising funds, restoring furniture and reproducing the draperies and carpets, they could continue to present the house to the public.
However, in 1968, serious water damage convinced the Decorators that extensive structural repairs were needed –– repairs that were far beyond their ability to manage. Wisely, they called on Joseph Roberto, New York University architect, to advise them.
It was not long before Roberto fell in love with the house and committed himself to a complete structural restoration that would take more than nine years to complete.
He and his wife, Carolyn, an interior designer, worked tirelessly to raise funds and Roberto then undertook the restoration, scrupulously maintaining the integrity of the original design. Then, assisted by the Decorators Club, the Robertos restored and reinstalled the collection of the Tredwells’ furniture and personal belongings and reopened the Museum to the public in 1979. The Robertos and the Decorators did it all on a volunteer basis. Following Roberto’s untimely death in 1988, with the help of a number of the city’s preservation organizations the museum raised seed money to hire its first professional staff.
In 1977, the museum received a one million dollar grant from the Vincent Astor Foundation, thus for the first time securing an endowment that would provide for its future financial security. In 1999, the House joined the Historic House Trust of New York City, further ensuring its preservation for generations to come.
The Merchant’s House has a lot to celebrate in this, its 175th year. The house is here today because of the countless friends and volunteers who came under its spell and so generously offered their time and financial support over the years.
Michelle Obama, attorney, hospital administrator and wife of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, will be the featured guest at the New-York Historical Society’s new Women in Public Life series at the annual Strawberry Festival benefit on June 26. The event begins at 12:30 p.m. and concludes at 2:00 p.m., at 170 Central Park West at 77th Street.
Currently Vice President of Community and External Affairs at the University of Chicago Hospitals, Michelle Obama previously served as Associate Dean of Student Services and Director of the University Community Service Center. In 1993, she was the founding director of Public Allies, an Americorps-funded program that provides leadership skills training to young adults. She also practiced intellectual property law in the corporate sector prior to her tenure as an assistant to Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago.
Michelle Obama graduated from Harvard Law School in 1988 and received her undergraduate degree from Princeton University in 1985; she majored in Sociology with a minor in African-American Studies. She grew up on Chicago’s South Side as Michelle Robinson, and met Barack Obama when she was appointed his advisor while they were both working as attorneys at Sidley & Austin in Chicago.. The couple has two daughters, Malia 8, and Sasha 5, and the family resides on Chicago’s South Side.
The 2007 Strawberry Festival marks the launch of the New-York Historical Society’s Women in Public Life series. The N-YHS annual Strawberry Festival dates to June 1856. Previous Strawberry Festivals have featured Hillary Clinton, Betsey Gotbaum, Anna Quindlen, Leslie Stahl, Christine Quinn and Wendy Wasserstein.
Proceeds will benefit the programs of the New-York Historical Society, including major exhibitions and educational programs on American history. Current N-YHS exhibitions include: New York Divided: Slavery and the Civil War and A New Light on Tiffany. Strawberry Festival tickets are $300, $600, and $1,000. Media RSVP required.
The second annual Wine Tasting Event on Il Grande Prato will be held on Friday, June 15th at 6:30 p.m. at the Garibaldi Meucci Museum on Staten Island.
Enjoy an unforgettable evening of great tasting vino! Meet wine expert, Ron Kapon, who will guide you through your wine tasting experience. Ron is a member of the Society For Wine Educators, a co-host on the syndicated radio show, The Wonderful World of Wine & Spirits, is the wine, spirits & travel correspondent for Sally Jesse Raphael’s internet talk show, and is a Professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University’s International School of Hospitality Management.
Sample different flavored red and white wines from a variety of vendors and listen to the sounds of our strolling musicians while you learn about wine making and wine pairing from winery representatives! Make your own wine charm and test your wine knowledge at our blind taste testing booth! Bid on items in our silent auction! There will also be educational olive oil tasting presented by olive oil connoisseur, Micheal Castaldo.
Cost: $35 in advance, $40 at the door. Price includes a commemorative wine glass and a chance to win the door prize, a brand new wine refrigerator! To purchase tickets, call the museum at 718-442-1608.
