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The 2023 interior renovations of the 1855 Harris-Kearney House Museum began when Tammy Reid and her husband Coach Andy Reid, generously donated the funds to renovate our main foyer and sitting room. This is the first major renovation since 1983, and over time, the walls had cracked from settling, the wallpaper was disintegrating into sand, and the brown woodwork needed its historically accurate paint color restored. As the renovation evolved, the restoration bug found the parlor and the dining room and the facelift for those rooms began. We are anxious to see the finished rooms, and we think you will be pleased.

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The renovation has become a pivotal milestone for the future of the 1855 Harris-Kearney House Museum, and the Westport Historical Society. Like all things over time, change becomes necessary, and is often required. As a result, while working to preserve and enhance our cherished spaces and artifacts, we have come to the realization that we must do more. Specifically, we want to reimage, redo, reorganize, and restructure our mission, purpose, priorities, programs, vision, and the connection to the world outside of the museum. For many reasons, the world has moved on and we need to catch up to remain a relevant and viable resource in the community.

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Many museums are struggling as we have been, with difficult and emotional decisions which determine whether museums survive in the post-pandemic world. According to an American Alliance of Museums (AAM) survey published in 2021:  a third of museums across the country were expected to close within a year, with the smallest—and often more localized and culturally specific – being the most vulnerable to shutting down.

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Survival was a driving force behind our founding pioneers who pursued their dreams and futures against all odds, and our team’s passion is no different when it comes to re-envisioning how to keep the importance of Westport’s historic value to our community, our city, and our country alive. In its beginning, Westport was a community filled with diversity which included neighboring and local Indigenous persons, people of color, people of different nationalities, races, ethnicities, and religions. We want to instill trust in our society, our museum, our board members, and our all-volunteer staff, as we meet our patrons’ and communities’ expectations. The governing WHS Bylaws were first written 38 years ago, with the current governing documents and our method of operation updated 13 years ago. Now is the time to make the changes necessary to move forward and enable us to be relevant and meaningful to a broad public audience in this post-pandemic era, and hopefully ensure our very survival. This task will take the combined effort of all of us to establish new ways of becoming a champion of diversity, equity, accessibility, inclusion, history, and education in the way we operate. To accomplish this, we need help guiding us through the process and we need time necessary to plan and accomplish our goal.

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Over the next few months, the Executive Board, the Board of Directors, and the new Advisory Board will work with a facilitator who specializes in small museums and organizations like ours, and who will guide us through the challenges and necessary changes we face. The visionary board members of WHS and the volunteers have made the decision to dedicate the remainder of the 2023 season to the work involved in reimagining our museum and programs. The 1855 Harris-Kearney House will remain closed for the duration of our 2023 season, with plans to reopen at the beginning of our 2024 season, on March 1st. While closed, we will offer a few special programs with those details available on our website Calendar of Events. This is a significant decision, one which we believe will allow us to refocus our energy and efforts to make the most positive impact on a new future for the Westport Historical Society and the 1855 Harris-Kearney House.

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As we reimagine the museum and its offerings, we will evaluate how to revise and rebuild WHS into a relevant and resourceful organization. To accomplish this, we believe it takes a community, one to which we want to be more connected. We will turn to our community and business leaders, our neighbors and schools, our membership, and our local museum colleagues to receive their contributions, constructive criticism, opinions, and suggestions through a series of round table discussions, or even one-on-one conversations. We want to genuinely become a more sustainable organization which embraces actions, diversity, history, equity, accessibility, education, and inclusion.

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While finishing the renovations of the 1855 Harris-Kearney House Museum and planning our 2024 year and beyond, frequent updates documenting our accomplishments and special programs will be provided on Facebook and in a timeline on our website.

 

Thank you for your support.

We wish you good health and safe journeys,

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Alana

Alana Smith, BS, MA

President, Westport Historical Society and the 1855 Harris-Kearney House, 

              a National Historic Site on the Santa Fe, California, and Oregon Trails.

President, Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area Advisory Group

4000 Baltimore

Kansas City, MO 64111

816-561-1821, (c) 913-231-6749