The Jason Russell House

ARLINGTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND THE JASON RUSSELL HOUSE

The Arlington Historical Society was established in 1897 in response to a growing sense of rapid cultural change, and the attendant desire to preserve stories and materials of the local past. Like many towns in the New England area, Arlington (previously known as West Cambridge, and then Menotomy) had seen intense and bloody fighting during the Revolutionary War, and the stories related to those battles were integral to the town’s identity. In 1923 the Society purchased a building connected to that identity: the colonial era home of Jason Russell, who was killed there in a battle with British forces.

The Jason Russell House, with the George A. Smith Museum addition on the left.

Photo credit: Edgar B. Herwick III

Like many historic buildings in the area, the Jason Russell House was preserved due to its important role in the Revolutionary War. The central story told by tour guides is about the Battle of Menotomy that took place in and around Jason Russell’s house. Guides stop in front a large painting depicting the House surrounded by violent and bloody fighting. Guides explain how British soldiers retreating towards Boston surrounded and attacked the house. The painting provides rich visual information as visitors listen to the story of Jason Russell’s death by gunshot. The story continues throughout the tour as guides point out bullet holes in walls and stairs and tell of rebel forces shooting up from their refuge in the cellar.

Detail of Ruth L. Berry’s Bicentennial painting, “The Fight at the Jason Russell House”

Photo credit: Edgar B. Herwick III

Preservation is central to the Society’s stated objectives, which read:

1.     To promote and encourage the knowledge of the history of the Town of Arlington and the preservation of its antiquities;

2.     To aid in the dissemination of historical information in the Town and elsewhere.

3.     To preserve and operate the Jason Russell House, the George A. Smith Museum, and its collection of archives and artifacts;

4.     To engage in such other activities as may be permitted by the Corporate Charter of 1897 and the Bylaws of the Society.[1]

The Society is run as a non-profit organization with an 11-member board of directors and is unassociated with the town of Arlington. It has a membership of over 250. Aside from the part-time paid position of Museum Administrator, all staff work as volunteers. The Society’s financial resources include an endowment, funds from de-accessioned items sold at auction, fundraising efforts and donations.

COLLECTIONS AND THE GEORGE A. SMITH MUSEUM

The Society’s collection started with historical manuscripts, which are now among the 3,638 items in the archives. The archives also includes “archives of the Society, manuscripts, diaries, correspondence, deeds and other primary source records of town history and residents, maps, architectural plans, ephemera, audio and visual recordings.”[2] A library collection of 1,351 books is considered part of the archives. The Society has also collected objects and photographic materials. The majority of the 4,548 objects are household materials including textiles, furniture and kitchen tools. The object collection also includes guns and other military items from the Revolutionary War. The photographic collection consists of 4,368 prints, negatives and lantern slides.

Notable parts of the collection have occasionally been highlighted on the Society’s blog. The House has a hand-painted kitchen ceiling; the discovery of this previously hidden ceiling and the rarity of such decoration are described in a blog post by Museum Administrator Sara Lundberg.[3] A seven-part series of blog posts by a volunteer researcher discuss the provenance and relevance of quilts in the collection.[4] Other significant items held by the Society are likely unknown due to the lack of intellectual control over the collection; this is discussed further below.

After decades of holding collections in expensive off-site storage, the Society built the George A. Smith Museum in 1981. The Museum was built as an addition attached to the House. The main floor features exhibit space and the basement accommodates the materials held in storage. Aside from the items on exhibit in the House and on the main floor of the Museum, the bulk of the collection is now located in the museum’s climate controlled basement. A safe deposit box at an undisclosed location contains valuable jewelry.

INFORMATION SHARING AMONG STAFF

According to current volunteer tour guides, some of whom work at other historic houses, the Jason Russell House is very informal in its operations. One guide said he’s worked at several historic houses “and this is the most informal I’ve seen”. There are no official tour guide trainings, nor is training a part of the Society’s stated mission. No regular, formal email communications or professional association memberships are in place. Staff members email each other to share information, and “sometimes use Google docs”; they learn of best practices or trends in the field “through the grapevine” or from jobs at other houses. [5] Only Lundberg reports conference attendance, but such professional development is severely restricted by insufficient time and resources.

Because of volunteer staff turnover and informal staff management, it is critical that information important to the Society’s Board be communicated to staff. The Jason Russell House Tour Guide Manual is one low-tech method of information sharing. Written by Tour Guide Chairperson Doris Birmingham, the manual is a detailed seven-page document that “walks” the volunteer guides through each room of the house in a narrative format.  Guides study the document and use its information as the basis of their tours. Thirteen items described in the manual, mostly furnishings, are highlighted in red and boldface. The story of the House is primarily told through the stories of these objects and the roles they played in the life of the Russell family and in the fatal battle. “Tall clock” in bold red signals to the guide that the story of the clock is significant: the extant clock is not the original, the Russell’s clock, in a similar style, is thought to have been looted by British soldiers. The manual also shares information with guides about conservation concerns; “secret cupboard” in bold red instructs guides to learn and tell the story of what was kept in the cupboard, but the paragraph also reminds guides to use gloves when opening and closing it, as “you can see the marks from too much handling”.[6]

The tours are formalized and rigid in structure, as is common in historic house museums. Although visitors are occasionally asked if they have questions, they are generally expected to follow the guide through the rooms and to listen passively.  As at most historic museums, the visitor numbers have steadily gone down at the Jason Russell House; it’s reasonable to expect this is related to changing expectations on behalf of visitors. In today’s cultural and learning experiences, users are accustomed to playing a participatory role and may be less interested in a passive learning experience. As Marty warns, “If museum professionals do not understand their visitors’ changing needs, they cannot predict where those needs will take them”, though he also admits that “from the perspective of the museum professional, the expectations of the modern museum visitor can seem rather outlandish”.[7]

Other documents are created, revised and shared among the Society’s Board in efforts to outline plans, prioritize projects and push initiative forward. A strategic plan written in 2015[8] notes the decrease in visitation discussed by Carson.[9] When asked about strategies to reach visitors who may want a more participatory experience, Lundberg responded “We want to make it more relevant” and said it is an issue important to address. It’s interesting to consider the potential for Carson’s “Plan B” in the context of New England’s American Revolution “superstory”.

A significant amount of research has been conducted for a disaster plan by board member Doreen Stevens, resulting in two documents that are essentially compilations of first-responder plans taken from other sources. The documents are titled “If You’re First” and “AHS Emergency Response”.[10]  Water entering the basement of the Smith Museum is considered to be a primary threat, which is reflected in both documents. “If You’re First” supply list includes boots, plastic sheeting, wax paper, and fans. “AHS Emergency Response” includes information about local moisture control service providers and includes a recommendation to “change to or investigate water-proof storage boxes where possible and more encapsulation of individual docs to retard water damage”. Lundberg considers the plan incomplete, as “it has to be to customized for the location” and is missing basic and vital components such as phone trees. Stevens acknowledges that the two documents, along with other reports produced and shared with the Board, are not sufficient; “an Emergency Response Plan must be constantly revised and, I believe, a stated responsibility of a power-holder in the organization’s inner circle (staff or Board).”[11]

INFORMATION SHARING WITH PUBLIC

The Society shares information with the public through guided tours which cost $5 per person, exhibits on display in the museum (free admittance), a yearly event series, and a newsletter. Although the tours consist of telling stories through objects, the objects themselves are unlabeled and do not offer visitors additional information beyond the tour guide’s monologue.  By contrast, exhibits on display in the George A. Smith Museum (described below) have large interpretive labels with extensive narrative information.

The events produced by the Society are varied and demonstrate a desire to make history interesting and relevant to visitors. They accomplish this by featuring local community groups in their programming and by drawing connections between cultural life in colonial times and today. The “Social Needlework” program traces patterns of social networking from quilting bees and sewing circles to today’s social media networks.

The Society also shares information with the public through its online presence, which includes a website, blog and Facebook page. Though its design is outdated, the website offers a comprehensive overview of the Society, the history of the House and Museum and the collections. The blog is part of the website; the posts are irregular and have no reader comments. Only the Facebook page shows evidence of consistent updates and active user participation.

ACCESSIBILITY AND CONDITIONS

Although the House and Museum are physically accessible via ramps, the collections are largely inaccessible due to the limited intellectual control held over the materials. As stated in the 2015 Strategic Plan, “The collection is currently underutilized as a resource to scholars.”[12]

The last inventory was in 1987, and Lundberg relates that until recently, physical access was “very casual”, with several unmonitored keys available to staff. Boxes containing the archives, objects and photographs are in the basement’s climate controlled environment, but not well organized or labeled. Lundberg admits to “not knowing where things are” and is aware of items that have gone missing.

Digitizing of accession records began in the early 2000s, with increased efforts over the last two years. Lundberg estimates that 95 to 99 percent of approximately 1,300 records are now available in digital form in Past Perfect. However, the records themselves were not originally complete and are often missing vital information such as location; as Lundberg says, “you just have to dig.”[13]

The condition of collection items has only been verified by periodic spot-checking. When Lundberg sees a record describing a potentially fragile item, she often goes looking for it in order to assess its condition. A silk wedding dress dating from the late 1600s was eventually found, boxed and well cared for. This spot-checking has demonstrated that at least portions of the collection are in “surprisingly good condition”. Lundberg considers the need for a full inventory to be the most critical institutional priority. But as Stevens commented about the disaster plan, an initiative’s success depends on whether it’s taken up by a “power-holder” in the organization. The goals stated in the strategic plan include “complete inventory and provide online access” and includes proposals that are specific about software and workflow. However, this goal is one among many other goals in the document that must compete for attention and resources. A prioritization is not clear in the plan; time will tell how the board leadership decides the organization should progress.

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[1] “Bylaws”, Arlington Historical Society, accessed April 16, 2016, http://www.arlingtonhistorical.org/about-us/bylaws/

[2] “Collections”, Arlington Historical Society, accessed April 16, 2016, http://www.arlingtonhistorical.org/learn/collections

[3] “A kitchen with a polka dot ceiling”, Arlington Historical Society, accessed April 18, 2016, http://www.arlingtonhistorical.org/2015/07/a-kitchen-with-a-polka-dot-ceiling/

[4] “Highlights of the AHS quilt collection, part 1”, Arlington Historical Society, accessed April 29, 2016, http://www.arlingtonhistorical.org/2015/highlights-of-the-ahs-quilt-collection-part-1

[5] On-site interview with tour guides, April 23, 2016.

[6] Jason Russell House Tour Guide Manual, consulted April 23, 2016.

[7] Marty, P. F. “Changing needs and expectations”, in Museum Informatics: people, information and technology in museums, ed. Marty, P. F. & Jones, K. B. (New York: Routledge). 181-185

[8] Lundberg, S., Parsons, G. Fredieu, R. & Jones, A., “Arlington Historical Society Strategic Plan”, accessed April 28, 2016, http://www.arlingtonhistorical.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/StrategicPlanForWeb.pdf

[9] Carson, C. “The End of History Museums: What’s Plan B?” The Public Historian 30, no. 4 (Fall 2008): 9-27

[10] Copies of these documents were shared with me by Doreen Stevens via email on April 27, 2016.

[11] Email communication with Doreen Stevens, received April 27, 2016.

[12] Lundberg, S., Parsons, G. Fredieu, R. & Jones, A., “Arlington Historical Society Strategic Plan”, accessed April 28, 2016, http://www.arlingtonhistorical.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/StrategicPlanForWeb.pdf

[13] Phone interview with Sara Lundberg, April 26, 2016