Historical Society Unveils Design for Archive Building

The Huntington Historical Society has received a $400,000 matching grant from New York State to build a state-of-the-art archive facility next to the Sewing and Trade School on Main Street.

The trade school building, one of the four National Historic Register buildings the society maintains, houses the society's library resource center and archives and, as Town Historian Robert Hughes said, "is bursting at the seams."

The trade school was purchased by the society in 1982. Currently, the library resource center and archives are housed on the main floor and lower level, with administrative offices on the third floor. The society's goal has been to secure more storage space for the archives. "We've run out of room. It's overflowing capacity," he said.

The society benefited from a matching gift from Doris Buffett's Sunshine Lady Foundation that came about through an appropriate connection – her research of Buffett family history.

"It was a 30-year project for Doris and she appreciated our help," Hughes said. She is Wall Street kingpin Warren Buffett's sister.

It turns out, Hughes explained, that the Buffetts have Huntington ties and Doris Buffett was researching them. There's a deed dated 1696 where a Buffett ancestor gave land to Hannah Titus when they married, on which an orchard sat, so she would always have income.

Members of the Buffett family lived here till 1869, when one of the family's children, Sidney, headed west and settled in Nebraska, where he started the family on its road to fortune by selling groceries to settlers also heading west. He came back years later in 1888, to visit his father, David.

Doris Buffett issued a challenge grant in 1999, saying she would match whatever the community raised, up to $500,000. "We didn't make it [to $500,000], but we raised $150,000 and she matched that," he said. The money was banked and added to some other funds, and the society then applied to the state for a matching grant. "Now we have $800,000 to finally do something with the archives," Hughes said.

Hughes unveiled an architectural rendering of a modern-looking glass cube with a solid awning, similar to the Apple store design on Fifth Avenue in New York City. It would sit between the trade school and the Huntington Arts Council building on Main Street and house the archives and a reading room.

Work on the architectural concept drawing was donated by Stephen Bezas of Cold Spring Harbor, and now the design must be fine-tuned and approved by the society, the town's Historic Preservation Committee and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Hughes estimated it probably would be two years before ground could be broken on the archive facility.

While somewhat radical, he said the modern design makes a statement. "It's required that the design be 'appropriate,' but not replicate what is there," Hughes said. People shouldn't think the new building has been there all along.

The concept calls for the reading room to have 16-foot ceilings in the part nearest the street, with the front a semi-public space, then a desk and library area for the archivist. The back of the building would be two stories, with archive storage space full of rolling shelving on the lower level that opens on the street level. The front of the building would be set back from Route 25A a bit to create a sort of plaza between the trade school and the arts council building, and the slate sidewalk would be replaced. If the older building can accommodate it, Hughes said the trade school building and new archive space would be linked with a set of steps. There's also discussion about installing an elevator to make records transfers easier.

Hughes announced receipt of the grant Sunday at the society's 106th annual meeting at the Dr. Daniel W. Kissam House on Park Avenue.

Also at the annual meeting, those attending learned about a little-discussed slice of Revolutionary War history with a discussion of "Forgotten Patriots: The Untold Story of American Prisoners During the Revolutionary War," (Basic Books, 2008) by Northport resident Edwin G. Burrows, a history professor at Brooklyn College and co-author of "Gotham," with fellow history professor Mike Wallace (Oxford University Press, 1998).

The society also elected four new trustees who will serve 3-year terms. They are: Kim Schutte, Kim Trant, Luci Blohm, and Susannah Meinersman.

Gary Strong and Al Sforza were confirmed as trustees whose terms will expire in 2011; they were appointed in May to complete the terms of trustees who left the board. They join trustees Marie Failey, Michael Ulrich and Danna Strong, who are beginning their second three-year terms.

The society also amended its bylaws to permit a trustee to serve on the board if a family member is on staff and to permit a telephone quorum to conduct business at a regular board meeting.

Several members were honored as volunteers of the year. Richard Holliday was recognized for his work as chairman of the Genealogy Workshop since 1996 and as site coordinator for the past two Family History Seminars run by the Genealogy Federation of Long Island; Kathy Bartone was recognized for work that includes her involvement with the school program as a costumed interpreter; and Robin Horn was recognized for her artistic work in refurbishing mannequins, hand-coloring old lithographs and her work as registrar as she accessions artifacts.