The economic recession hit home at Hanford Mills Museum in East Meredith this week as the assistant director and curator were laid off.
``It was an agonizing decision and came after a lot of thought about where we're headed financially,'' said Kathryn Boardman, president of the board of directors.
Museums rely on foundations and other benefactors, and these people and institutions have taken a beating recently in the stock market panic.
As the recession deepens and seems unlikely to end next year, Hanford Mills, like the New York State Historical Association last month, has been forced to cut staff, she said.
Liz Callahan, Hanford Mills' executive director, said the decision to let some people go in this economic climate is doubly hard because the museum's staff is already small. The museum has fewer than 10 full-time employees.
``These are people you see and talk to every day, people you have lunch with,'' she said.
But after an analysis of financial trends and forecasts, the board concluded it had to cut staff or face the likelihood of not being able to operate beyond 2009.
``We're going to have to change direction,'' Callahan said Friday. ``We need to be much more aggressive about seeking grants, and we're going to do a lot more outreach.''
Toward that end, the museum has hired an accountant to help develop a financial strategy and is working on plans to bring exhibits to people, rather than the traditional model of visitors coming to the museum.
``I think we have to accept that it may be harder for some people to visit us," Callahan said, "so we have to be much more active in the community; let people see how others in the past dealt with things like sustainability.''
Hanford Mills has a wealth of lore on food production and living in harmony with nature, and it will work hard to share it locally, she said.
The museum's assistant director, Caroline de Marrais, whose last day on the job will be Jan. 9, declined to comment Friday.
But her husband, John de Marrais, said, ``I think it was lousy to let someone go like that, without any options available.''
De Marrais said that his wife had worked for Hanford Mills for nearly 20 years and ``she put her heart and soul into that museum.'' Now, she will join the growing ranks of the nation's jobless.
De Marrais, 57, said he has been working part-time, operating a backhoe and doing other things as he stayed at home with the couple's 5-year-old son.
``Now, we're not sure what we're going to do,'' he said.
Other area organizations lay off employees
In mid-November, the New York State Historical Association in Cooperstown laid off several employees, including former staff photographer Glenn Linsenbardt of Hartwick.
``At staff meetings, they were saying the budget was tight, but it was a shock. I'd been there 19 years,'' he said.
The day after he was informed, Linsenbardt returned to collect his personal belongings. He said he was monitored by the staff's security personnel, an awkward situation.
But just days later, he opted to go on NYSHA's annual excursion, this year to Stockbridge, Mass.
``I asked them, `Can I still go on the staff trip, since I already paid for it?''' he said.
Since he left NYSHA, Linsenbardt has taken a job with The Freeman's Journal in Cooperstown.
Joe Mish of Oneonta, a writer and poet who managed the general store at The Farmers' Museum, also lost his job in November.
He hasn't landed another one yet, but may reply to advertisements for grants writers, he said.
He'd been with the museum 15 years and said he was given no warning of his pending status.
``That's the part I still have a little trouble with, but things will work out,'' Mish said.
NYSHA President Stephen Elliott declined Friday to discuss the terminations.
Elliott re-released a statement dated Nov. 13 that said, ``The New York State Historical Association and The Farmers' Museum, like many other corporate and nonprofit organizations, have been adversely affected by the downturns in the economy."
The release later continued, "Regrettably, there simply was no way to create balanced budgets without decreasing expenditures and reducing our work force."
``Although a small proportion of our staff is directly affected, these are painful actions for them and discomfiting for us all at the museums," the release said, "but we will absorb these changes and move forward to make 2009 another year of success for NYSHA.''
