Thursday, Apr 27, 2006
Two of Gettysburg National Military Park's primary partners have announced plans to merge their operations, creating the Gettysburg Foundation. The new organization, a private, nonprofit educational organization, will continue to work in partnership with the National Park Service to enhance preservation and understanding of the heritage and lasting significance of Gettysburg.
The merger of the Friends of the National Parks at Gettysburg and the Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum Foundation becomes official on June 30th, but the two organizations have already begun to combine their operations. The Museum Foundation is relocating its offices to space adjacent to the site of the new Museum and Visitor Center at 1195 Baltimore Pike. Until the new Museum and Visitor Center opens in early 2008, that will serve as the headquarters for the Gettysburg Foundation. Some foundation staff also will be located at and continue to manage the Rupp House on Baltimore Street.
In joining together, the Friends and the Museum Foundation combine very distinct strengths in support of a common mission. These strengths include thousands of volunteers, a variety of on- and off-site educational programs, a successful track record of fundraising at the five-, six- and seven-figure level among corporate, foundation and individual donors, and an established grassroots fundraising network.
"Friends of Gettysburg" -- the thousands of members who have, since 1989, contributed their time and their talent in support of the park's preservation and educational missions -- will continue to be the face of the organization.
"Together we can ensure that these national treasures at Gettysburg National Military Park and Eisenhower National Historic Site are preserved and remain unimpaired for future generations," said superintendent John Latschar of the merger. "I look forward to many more years of rolling up our sleeves together to build fences, protect the land, preserve monuments, teach the young, raise awareness and all of those things we have done so well. I very much look forward to working together to build and operate a new Museum and Visitor Center, and remove modern intrusions from and rehabilitate the Union battle line at Cemetery Ridge."
Museum Foundation President Robert C. Wilburn will assume the duties of president and chief executive officer of the new Gettysburg Foundation. Wilburn, who has served as president of the Museum Foundation since October 2000, noted that the new Gettysburg Foundation not only will be able to enhance and expand existing programs, it also will create new ones. Supporters will enjoy a greater variety of opportunities to become engaged in programs and activities that benefit the park.
"To succeed, we must connect with our visitors, both on- and off-site. We have to do more than preserve the past. We also must find ways to use the memorials -- the battlefields, the monuments and the artifacts -- to excite and inspire and spark a desire to know more," Wilburn said. "Together, we can help to ensure that Gettysburg's programs and exhibits invite exploration of all of the issues related to the Civil War, its causes and consequences. We can enhance our ongoing efforts to preserve and restore, and expand the successful programs that promote learning, because an important element of our battlefields and museums is the emotional response that sparks the desire to know more."
"The Friends, as the multi-purpose park partner, has been committed for 17 years to its mission to honor, support, protect and enhance the resources associated with Gettysburg and its national parks," said Barbara J. Finfrock, Friends' chair of the board. "This is an opportunity that will allow the Friends to do even more to meet that commitment and expand our support to the park, while at the same time enhancing opportunities for our members. This is absolutely the best step that we could take to ensure that Gettysburg and its valuable lessons and resources are preserved for future generations."
Finfrock will be vice-chairman of the board of the Gettysburg Foundation. Robert A. Kinsley, currently chairman of the Museum Foundation's board, will chair the new Foundation board.
The Friends of the National Parks at Gettysburg has more than 25,000 members and supporters all over the world. Since its establishment in 1989, it has donated more than $6 million in goods and services in support of Gettysburg National Military Park mission-related projects related to land preservation, monument preservation and cannon restoration, education, battlefield rehabilitation and museum artifacts.
The Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum Foundation, established in 1998, has been working in partnership with the park to raise the necessary funds to build a new Museum and Visitor Center, preserve an extensive collection of Civil War-era archives, objects and artifacts, conserve the massive Gettysburg Cyclorama painting and return portions of the battlefield to their 1863 appearance.
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