Historic New England institutional records

Description

"Our New England antiquities are fast disappearing...The situation requires aggressive action by a large and strong society, which shall...act instantly whenever needed to lead in the preservation of noteworthy buildings and historic sites." With these stirring words, in April 1910, William Sumner Appleton and seventeen colleagues founded the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, known today as Historic New England, to preserve and to present the cultural and architectural heritage of New England. The houses, landscapes, farms, furnishings, paintings, clothing, implements, architectural drawings, documents, photographs, books, periodicals, and the other myriad materials accumulated in a century shed light on the lives of New Englanders from the seventeenth century to the present.The history of the organization is recorded in a variety of documents:The minutes of Trustees' meetingsExecutive Committee minutesBy-lawsMembership record booksRecords related to the history, acquisition, and maintenance of Historic New England propertiesLegal documents and other materialsAccessions filesCorrespondenceFiles of sample promotional materials, appeals, tickets, and morePapers of the directors and presidents: Bertram K. Little, Abbott Lowell Cummings, Nancy Coolidge, Jane C. Nylander, Carl R. NoldIn addition to the organizational records, holdings also include William Sumner Appleton's scrapbooks and diaries.