Wenham Museum

CONTACT:

132 Main Street
Wenham, MA 01984
(978) 468-2377
www.wenhammuseum.org

Lindsay Diehl, Executive Director

DESCRIPTION:

The Wenham Village Improvement Society in 1921 purchased the Claflin-Richards House on Route 1A, in Wenham's center. Four years later it was discovered that the structure dated back to 1690, so the Society decided to preserve the house as an historic building. It has steadily added collections and other structures, and in 1952 incorporated the Wenham Historical Association and Museum incorporated as a 501(c)(3) charitable corporation, "to protect, preserve and interpret the history and culture of Boston's North Shore, domestic life and the artifacts of childhood".

Today the Wenham Museum's collections include 5,000 dolls, lead-cast toy soldiers and more than 8,000 items of clothing and textiles dating back to the 1770s. It serves as the headquarters of the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture, and houses the library of the Doll Collectors of America. It receives more than 35,000 visitors annually, in school programs, family events and outreach activities; nearly 200 volunteers support its programs. Given other influences on children's popular culture these days, isn't it useful to retain and promote other historic options?

(2001: CULTURE: Education: Informal: Historic Preservation)