Director's Message

Spring 2000

Pictured at left: Executive director, Kent dur Russell with Mary Louise Higgins Wilding-White, daughter of the Museum's founder, John Woodman Higgins.

Please join us for the 7th annual Higgins Faire on Saturday, June 10th! We are bringing back some great outdoor activities - weather permitting - like medieval jousting, catapult and trebuchet demonstrations. The clashing of swords was a little too loud for the Great Hall! Come and enjoy a tremendous variety of Renaissance and medieval jubilation. And, a special thank you to the Young Businessmen's Association for their support.

The Board of Trustees, under the leadership of Michael Pagano, has voted to go ahead with the five-year plan. We will begin with a feasibility study by an independent contractor. As part of the study, we will also determine if it is time for another Capital Campaign to get our endowment to a level consistent with our growth.

Our special exhibition A Double-Edged Weapon: The Sword as Icon and Artifact is having a beautiful run and we would like to again thank the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities for their support of its successful symposium. We have also received a tremendous amount of support from the Norton Foundation to bring a group of North High School students to the Museum. And, in addition to that, the Greater Worcester Community Foundation is supporting a new program for the Museum to do Outreach programs in the Worcester Public Middle Schools this fall.

A new book by Curator Walter J. Karcheski, Jr. entitled The Medieval Armour of Rhodes, co-published with the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds, England, is now available in the Museum Store. This is the Museum's very first joint publishing venture with England's Royal Armouries Museum. Members will receive their customary discount on the $75.00 book (signed by the author).

And, a few year's ago, Diane Laska-Nixon, the Museum's Director of Marketing, along with six other Central Massachusetts' Museum Marketing Directors formed a collaborative. After several successful local projects, the group has secured two significant advertising/promotion/tourism grants. The first was a matching grant from the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism for a print ad campaign.

Thanks to FleetBoston Financial Foundation and Museums Magazines, they were able to secure the matching funds for a 16-page spring "insert" into 150,000 Museums New York publications and 50,000 Museums Boston publications.

These same publications will also feature a 2-page advertisement with discount coupons in their summer issues.

Just when they were "patting themselves on the back", they were informed that they had also received an $80,000 tourism grant from the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority! This will be a summer billboard and brochure campaign. Diane has also been working with The Donovan Group to develop new visuals and thanks to them, we will hopefully be able to use these on a "public service" basis. These new ads will be a nice compliment to the two large grant campaigns.

So, have a wonderful summer and make sure to visit the Museum!

- Kent dur Russell, Executive Director & CEO