Woodrow Wilson House
2009 Annual Report to the
National Trust for Historic Preservation
Board of Trustees


2009 brought challenges and rewards to Woodrow Wilson House. Certainly the global recession which lagged through most of the Fiscal Year kept our earned income below budgeted expectations by 20% and charitable giving slipped by roughly 15%. Charitable support from our core group of individual supporters, friends and our Advisory Board proved to be consistent. Attendance was down along with shop sales and private rentals. Income from special events, like our popular Spring Garden Party fell short of budget when benefactor support dropped by one-third, and the September House and Embassy Tour met budget, only with a careful cutting of expenses. Over the year Wilson House was forced to cut Guide hours, eliminate a part-time housekeeper and historian position, and institute one week furloughs for full-time staff. Despite starting the year with a cash reserve, Wilson House anticipates a modest deficit at year end.

On the positive side, the Wilson House completed a cornerstone of our Strategic Plan, an 18-month Comprehensive Collections and Conservation Study that assessed environmental conditions and their effect on our nationally significant collections over the past 20 years. A grant from the HSF Fund matched IMLS funds for this project. The condition and recommendation information provided by this study will help to develop a sustainable environmental plan for the site. Wilson House and National Trust Staff already have begun sharing this important and model study with the field, and will present a session at the Preservation Conference in Nashville. These initial findings are now guiding the next phase of the project which will generate a Stewardship Master Plan to direct future use and climate zoning, and conditions on which to base sustainable energy management decisions. This phase will lead to design and installation by 2011.

While the overall National Trust People Saving Places campaign was called to a close in 2009, the Wilson House Advisory Board voted to suspend our Endowing the Wilson Legacy at 100 Campaign (anticipating the Wilson administration’s 2013 centennial). To date, we have raised close to $1 million for our endowment. As the economic recovery continues we will re-engage our efforts to hedge against future market changes and provide much needed funds for general operating expenses.

Wilson House contracted and HSF Funds paid for emergency and preventive plumbing repairs in July. During investigations for the Conservation Study, leaking water and waste pipes were discovered in the crawlspace. A potential life safety threat was corrected and greater damage prevented from pending rupture of 95 year-old water lines, 85% corroded and weakened to rust. Members of the Wilson House Historic Site Committee provided the $10,000 match to HSF Funds to complete restoration of the faux painted, linen and plaster surfaces of Wilson’s S Street Library. Pro-bono services by renowned Restoration by Costikyan returned the Liberty Rug to the Library and the period significant carpet to the President’s bedroom. A restricted gift from James Dicke supported restoration of 5 paintings in the Wilson House collection, including a prominent painting by Elliot Clark in the Drawing Room and a painting by Ellen Axon Wilson.

Our new curator, John Powell, chose “hidden treasures” for the exhibition, 101 Wonders of the Woodrow Wilson House. Not only do visitors have a chance to view objects and gifts of goodwill to a President, but the exhibition has allowed us to determine the potential benefits of an ongoing program of visible storage which would allow more of our 8,000-object collection to be accessible to the public, in tandem with those objects crucial to daily historic interpretation of the House. The exhibition also reaped stronger relations and outreach opportunities in our Embassy Row community, including Japan, Ethiopia and Belgium.

Thirty years of service and support to Woodrow Wilson House were celebrated in March as Richard Moe presented the National Trust President’s Award to Advisory Board member Ellen Proxmire. The reception hosted by and presented at the French Ambassador’s Residence garnered patron support and provided a fundraising opportunity.