LYNN — From its founding as a historical society in 1897 to the launching of its $125,000 fundraising campaign this year, Lynn Museum/LynnArts is an enduring local institution committed to preserving the city’s history.
“We have more than 10,000 artifacts related to Lynn’s history. We have a really successful paid-internship program and LynnArts is thriving. There are so many positives,” Executive Director Doneeca Thurston said Thursday.
More than 100 guests converged on the Museum, 590 Washington St., on Wednesday evening to celebrate 125 years spanning the Lynn Historical Society’s founding, growth, and transition to the Museum, and its 2014 merger with LynnArts.
Gov. Charlie Baker and First Lady Lauren Baker offered videotaped congratulations and Mayor Jared C. Nicholson and Lynn Superintendent of Schools Dr. Patrick Tutwiler were in attendance.
The event was an opportunity to take stock and celebrate for Museum President and 31-year Board of Trustees member Joseph E. Scanlon III.
“We’ve been in business for 125 years preserving, as our core mission, Lynn’s history. I’m most proud that we have continued our mission,” Scanlon, a former city councilor, said.
Thurston’s participation in that mission began in 2019 with her hiring. Mere months passed before she was grappling with running a museum during a pandemic and its attendant social-distancing restrictions.
“We survived the pandemic and remained open with exhibitions,” she said.
Wednesday’s celebration dovetails with the goal of raising during 2022 $125,000 to support the Museum and LynnArts. Sponsorship and donation opportunities may be made by visiting lynnmuseum.org/donate
After 100 townspeople expressed concern in 1896 that local historical-preservation efforts were needed. The Lynn Historical Society was established on Jan. 13, 1897 “to investigate, record, and perpetuate the history of the town of Lynn, and to collect, hold, and preserve documents, books, memoirs, relics and all other matters illustrating its history or that of individuals identified with it.”
Within the first six years, the organization expanded from 127 members to 510 members and continued to grow.
Time-travel ahead to 1986 when the Lynn Historical Society hired its first full-time executive director, Ken Turino, who stayed with the society until 2000. Under Turino’s directorship, the Lynn Historical Society became the Lynn Museum & Historical Society, better known as the Lynn Museum.
Successive executive directors — Connie Colom (2000-07), Kate Luchini (2009-14) and Drew Russo (2015-19) — carried on the Museum’s mission into the merger with LynnArts, located at 25 Exchange St. next to the Museum.
The Museum has more than 800 members and offers changing exhibitions and innovative community programs, encouraging active participation in exploring Lynn’s past while celebrating the present and informing the future.
“Everything we do is with an eye toward authenticity,” Scanlon said.
Upcoming events include the board’s business meeting on Wednesday, May 25, 6 p.m. at the Museum with history professor Dr. William Fowler discussing John Adams and John Hancock — the American Revolution’s “odd couple.”
