In preparation for my presentations at the upcoming Historic House Symposium at Gunston Hall and the National Council on Public History annual meeting, I’m analyzing financial information about history organizations in the United States. I’m currently researching state historical societies, working my way from the most populous state (California with 37 million residents) to the least (Wyoming with about half a million residents). So far I’m about halfway done, but I wanted to share what I’ve learned and get your reactions.
Among my preliminary discoveries is the dramatic difference among state historical societies. Some are incredibly big (the New York Historical Society has $133 million in net assets) and some states don’t seem to have a statewide historical society (anyone know what’s happening in North Carolina?). One might assume that the biggest states have the biggest historical societies, but that’s clearly not the case. The chart above shows the net assets of the historical societies in the twelve largest states in the Union by population. The historical societies in Massachusetts and Virginia have the largest assets among the dozen, even though those states are the smallest in the bunch. Are historical societies in the former English colonies more successful because they have more history? Or is that residents just believe they have more history?
Even more surprising is that financial deficits are much more common than I expected. Among the twelve most populated states in the Union, seven state historical societies experienced deficits. Is it a coincidence that the largest deficits occurred in the organizations with the largest assets? Are they taking risks to innovate or are they being careless? We’ll also want to watch what happens at the Ohio Historical Society–they not only experienced a deficit, but they had no net assets.
There’s been a lot of chatter about the precarious financial condition of historic house museums, but this initial look at historical societies may suggest the issue is much bigger. While some have suggested house museums can solve their problems through mergers or sales with easements, that’s not easily accomplished with a state historical society.
This is just a preliminary look and there’s much more analysis to be done. If you have any insights, thoughts, or questions, please share them in the comments below.
Engaging Places 
Very interesting, Max. Great job. Hope you’ll post the slides when finished.
This area is ripe for exploration in other areas, too, including per capita membership levels, the way in which these activities take place in other states without a traditional historical society, and more.
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I hope to slice and dice the data in several ways once all the data is collected, but I need to sort out the players in the right categories. This all started by looking at historic sites (my area of specialization) to find some bellwether organizations to give us a sense of where the field is headed, but discovered that was incredibly complex (do I include the Ford Museum, which includes Greenfield Village, or a fictional but popular historic site, such as Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace?) so I switched to state historical societies because that would be simple and straightforward. I was wrong (but it’s all still incredibly interesting and worth discussing).
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Are you considering that some are integral parts of the state governments – like Kentucky – and some thoroughly private like Virginia, Maryland and Massachusetts?
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In fact, that is what’s happening in North Carolina. The NC Dept. of Cultural Resources houses the Office of Archives and History, which includes the Federation of NC Historical Societies. Another factor is the Historical Commission.
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Thanks for the additional information on North Carolina. I thought this responsibility might be with the Office of Archives and History, but just wanted to be sure.
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This is very interesting. Just out of curiosity, for the data coming out of Pennsylvania, what specific organization did you examine?
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I used the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, although despite its name, I hear is more focused on the eastern end of the state to avoid duplicating efforts with the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission is a government agency and will be treated separately.
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As said above – there are also dramatic differences in the level of state support and funding for state historical societies. And there are also differences in those that are primarily research organizations versus those that have multiple museums and public-facing operations. And again there are quirky pieces within states that mean the semi-official “state historical society” might be less prominent than you’d think. In Maine, for example, the Maine Historical Society and the Maine State Museums are two very different organizations.
Would also be interesting to compare founding date v. net assets v. membership. Look at Minnesota, for example, which is one of the oldest (& largest) state historical societies but is in a lower-population state according to your rubric.
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Oh, boy, you’re right. I’m uncovering so many different forms of governance and operations, and I’ll have to do a lot of thinking about categories to be sure I’m comparing apples to apples. Ultimately, I’m trying to find some measures of how well history is supported in the US, and some places are doing well and others are really struggling. And of course, the bigger question is figuring out why and how so we can strengthen and build capacity.
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Check out what is happening in OK.
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Thanks, I have their latest Form 990 on my desk.
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Another complicating factor may be that some state historical societies have collected more than just the history of their state, and so have a wider draw. The NEH’s magazine recently had an article about the collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society that discussed their original collecting mandate, which was to chronicle the birth and development of America as a country, not just the history of their region. It made it sound like a mecca for anyone interested in the Founding Fathers (& Mothers), who continue to be popular with museum-goers.
I can’t help but think that strictly looking at assets may be a little misleading though, as a large component of it is the value of real estate. By virtue of its location, the New York Historical Society’s building is going to be worth more than anyone else’s, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they have any more spare cash than anyone else. Quite the opposite seems to be true, actually…
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Besides the New-York Historical Society in New York City there is the New York State Historical Association in Cooperstown, NY. They are two different entities.
Some Midwestern historical associations, such as Minnesota’s, are either part of state government, or supported by state government, or are a quasi-governmental body.
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I’ve also found that Missouri has two different statewide historical societies. An embarrassment of riches?
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I don’t believe The New-York Historical Society in NYC is a state historical society.
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Many historical societies with museum collections in Australia have not undertaken formal valuation of their collections. Might this be similar with some of the historical societies you’re looking at?
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Historical societies can play many roles, including publisher, museum, library/archives, and/or historic site, which complicates how they report their collections in their financial reports. In the US, most museums and libraries do not include collections among their financial assets, following a 1993 decision by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FAS 116). It’s a bit more complex with historic sites because I’ve found they may include the historic buildings, gardens, and grounds as assets (as buildings, land, & equipment), even though the building and garden may be the most significant artifact in the collection. Determining if historic buildings are capitalized or not is more complex because the easily available financial reports (IRS Form 990) do not always provide sufficient details in the notes.
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Don’t forget the Filson Club in Louisville, Kentucky. It may now be called the Filson Historical Society. I believe it has a statewide mission or wider.
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I know this is late but the Illinois State Historical Society is a relatively small operation with no collections and only a couple of publications. The research library, historic sites, archives, and state museum are all under the control of and funded by the state government. It appears that no two states are alike!
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You should contact the American Association of State and Local History. They would have useful information for you. As you have seen, this is a much more complex question than the statistics reveal. There is an informal group of stare historical society administrators that meets annually to discuss the current challenges that state historical societies (whether official state entities or private non-profits) face.
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