Season’s greetings! I hope you will allow me a few moments at this time for an exciting progress report.

As a self-sustaining site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Woodrow Wilson House is wrapped into an annual report that you will not see until the spring. But so much has been accomplished over the past twelve months and so much has manifested itself in just the past few weeks of the year – including a visit from the First Lady to our Presidential Dish exhibition – that I want to share a quick look at a very successful year which also marks my twentieth year of association with Woodrow Wilson House.

I was delighted to be the guest of honor at the opening of our Wilson 150 Traveling Exhibition in Augusta, Georgia and to lecture at their annual Wilson Symposium on December 7th. Wilson 150, sponsored by The History Channel and moved by Security Storage of Washington, was presented at Morven Museum in Princeton, NJ through the summer and is now open at Wilson’s Boyhood Home. Our partners in Georgia have done a remarkable job promoting the exhibition which will continue to travel through 2008.

The Wilson 150 Celebration included presentations of the Woodrow Wilson Statesmanship Award to the former chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan, and the first Woodrow Wilson Youth Leadership Award to the Student Council of John S. Davidson Fine Arts School of Augusta. Those students won a nationwide, on-line competition conceived to echo Woodrow Wilson’s call for students in the service to the nation. Plans are underway to award the next recipients.

Wilson House invested much of 2007 in the plan and implementation of our major exhibition, The Presidential Dish: Mrs. Woodrow Wilson and the White House China Room. To celebrate the preservation legacy of Edith Wilson and her lasting contribution to the nation, the White House China Room as Mrs. Wilson founded it in 1917 has been replicated and 150 pieces of presidential porcelain recreating the inventory list are beautifully displayed on loan from Wilson House Advisory Board member and collector of presidential materials, Set Charles Momjian.

The Presidential Dish exhibition, a stunning 36-page publication and the launch of an aggressive marketing plan have been made possible by generous funding from foundations and individual contributors.

Finding regular sources of general operating support has been daunting and a challenge shared by many museums. Although, we end 2007 with a mixed financial record, I am pleased to report that our admissions income logged in well over projected budget, and we saw our best year since the setbacks of 9/11. Support from our Advisory Board, Friends membership groups, and special program subscriptions continue to be strong. Our Historic Site Committee’s campaigns for special projects beyond general operating needs allowed for the conservation of three important clocks and the complete reconditioning of the Wilson’s White House piano, plus upgrades in furnishings and collection care.

This was a year of transitions for Board and staff. Advisory Board Chair Connie Carter’s legacy is highlighted by the innovative programming and successful fundraising efforts of Wilson 150, and the adoption of new strategic initiatives which included cultivation of a national Advisory Board. Connie passed the chairmanship in October to Stu Brahs, who as Treasurer of the Advisory Board is well versed in the plans, strategies and needs of this historic house museum. Grateful for the care and stewardship of Curator James Abbott, it was with mixed feelings that we wished Jim the best when he left for his new position in November at Evergreen House in Baltimore.

2007 was also dedicated to planning and preparing for our future success. The Wilson Legacy at 100, our new Strategic Plan was adopted in May and focuses on three main goals – to Preserve, Promote and Endow the Wilson Legacy – which over the next five years will prepare us for the Centennial of the Wilson Presidency (1913-1921). The Wilson House Board immediately set out to enact several key steps: to Preserve, we secured an Institute of Museum and Library Service (IMLS) Conservation Project grant to fund half of a $175,000 assessment of environmental conditions and their effect on our nationally significant collections, in order to develop a sustainable environmental plan for the future; to Promote, a planning committee for the Wilson Centennial is already at work, chaired by Wilson Scholar, Dr. John Milton Cooper; to Endow, revision and implementation of governance polices better prepare Wilson House for full participation, with a goal of doubling the current $1.7 million endowment, in the upcoming Campaign for America's Heritage. You will hear more about this campaign from us in the months ahead.

The property and collections have never looked better! Since 1987 Wilson House has been accredited by the American Association of Museums (AAM), and we should hear of our re-accreditation any day now. The Presidential Dish is drawing enthusiastic visitors, both new and loyal. And, the co-chairs are busy on another twenty-year marker, the May 14th Garden Party, presented by Perennial Garden Club to benefit Woodrow Wilson House.

On behalf of the Advisory Board and staff, I send our warmest wishes for the season and our heartfelt thanks for all your interest in the Woodrow Wilson House and the legacy of an extraordinary leader.

Frank J. Aucella
I welcome your comments, to send me an email click here.