0.7 Chapter five: new initiatives and economic shocks, 1982-1987  (Page 12/18)

The board was changing, but not quickly. The Society was, and had been for some time, under pressure to become a more inclusive institution. This pressure affected not only the Society's programmatic efforts but also the composition of its board. Throughout its history, the board had been made up of collectors and amateur historians. These individuals were not selected for their demonstrated skills in leading complex institutions; rather, they were chosen because of the peo­ple they knew and their enthusiasm for collecting Americana. Some members of the board recognized that this policy had to change. The report of the special committee on future planning, presented to the board in February 1981, suggested that "additional persons should be selected for membership on the board of trustees.. .. These persons should be carefully chosen so that their particular spe­cialties would complement each other and be helpful in the operations of the Society." A year later, in March 1982, there was "extended discussion concerning suggestions for new members and it was the opinion of the board that younger members be added ... as soon as possible."

In September 1985, the board elected a new class of trustees that included Barbara Debs, Miner Warner, and Rachel Robinson (the widow of baseball player Jackie Robinson). These new trustees became active members of the board and pushed aggressively for change (for example, some played a role in getting the by-laws amendments passed). Still, because of the inertia generated by 180 years of a particular mode of governance, change occurred slowly.

The peck bequest and programmatic accomplishments, 1986-1987

In the meantime, the Society's financial distress was hidden temporarily by a major bequest received from Clara Peck. The bequest, the proceeds of which were spread over 1985 and 1986, was unrestricted and amounted to more than $2 million. It is important to note that a board has some control over how it designates certain types of financial receipts. In the early 1960s, for example, Frederick Adams used the Society's surpluses to build a board-restricted development fund. This board could have taken a similar step and designated the Peck bequest as endowment, since it was clearly a one-time inflow. It did not. When presented on the finan­cial statements, the bequest was included as regular operating income, making it appear that the Society had registered its first surplus in many years. Once those funds were spent, however, the Society found itself in familiar territory, facing expenditures that far exceeded its revenues.

The Peck bequest was both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it pro­vided the Society with some breathing room, allowing it to pursue aggressively its programs and plans for community outreach. On the other hand, it postponed the inevitable, allowing the Society to continue to operate without making sig­nificant cuts in its expenditures—expenditures that were at a level far in excess of the Society's capacity to generate revenue. Operating expenses jumped from $2.6 million in 1984 to $3.2 million in 1985, an increase of 26 percent. In 1986, a six-month "year" in which the Society converted to a June fiscal year-end, operating expenses were $2.0 million ($4.2 million annualized).