The 25 members of the Board of Trustees set the policies of The Reitz Home Preservation Society and protect the assets of the Reitz Home Museum. Policies include
A Message from the President, Steven Bugg
As I embark on my 2nd term as your president I must stop for a moment and take a look back at our progress from last year. Our executive director, the Reitz Home staff and Board of Directors focused on three major goals for the organization; 1. Implement annual fund development, 2. Continue preservation projects on the structure, and 3. Continue quality educational programming. Let’s take a brief look at all three goals.
We continue to aggressively work on implementing long term strategies that increase the development of our funds by cultivating business and personal relationships, researching and submitting additional grants and maximizing the revenue generated from the fundraisers that we hold. The Reitz Home Museum substantially counts on the membership income to operate the Reitz Home and it is paramount to our success to maintain our membership base, increase contributions from existing members and to increase our memberships. We were very successful in moving this strategy forward.
The Reitz Home Museum requires a lot of routine maintenance and also ongoing preservation to keep it a viable museum for many more generations. During this last year we worked on the exterior of the mansion to repair the back downspout and the roof of the veranda. We also repaired some slate tiles on the Carriage House roof, provided non-gratis from Architectural Renovators. We also needed to replace the humidifiers in order to maintain the perfect temperature for our museum pieces.
Our educational programming soared to new highs this past year with the development of new educational programs, increasing the successful lecture series, increase our outreach lectures in the community, continue to educate the youth of our communities through school visits and the creation of new exhibits.
In addition, The Reitz Home Museum continues to make progress on cataloging our collection in the electronic database (a major undertaking), and continuing with best practices with the handling and storage of our pieces. We also undertook the task of expanding and training our docent staff along with cross training our staff members as well as updating the job descriptions for our staff.
Special thanks to all of our dedicated staff members, including our executive director. They spend countless hours making sure that The Reitz Home Museum operates effectively and upholds our mission. Of course it would not be possible without the dedication and support from so many individuals and businesses. We have a lot of volunteers that spend their personal time making sure that the museum continues to promote our history, education and preservation mission. The Guild, the Docents, the Board of Directors, our many individual and business sponsors and those that are part of our many fundraising committees also need to be thanked. Of course, the Reitz Home Museum would not be a vibrant part of the community without the ongoing support from our members. I want to personally thank you if you are a member and challenge you to increase your membership level and / or bring in a new member to the Reitz Home family. We do offer something for everyone!
I look forward to seeing everyone at the Reitz Home Museum or one of our many events in the very near future and thanks again to everyone for such a successful year. If you are not a member I encourage you to check out The Reitz Home Museum or contact us for further information.
Where Does the Term "Victorianism" Come From?
The term "Victorianism" was derived from the reigning monarch of the time, Queen Victoria. The term reflects the heavy British influence on the United States. The growing upper class of the Gilded Age mimicked the high society of their mother country in dress, morality, and mannerisms.
