The article, "Mansion may be history," July 21, warning of the financial challenges faced by Historic Cherry Hill is alarming. Its supporters have rallied to meet a critical funding deadline, but it is not the last funding goal that must be met.
As a historian, I believe that Cherry Hill must be saved for three reasons: the breadth and continuity of its collections; the ambition and significance of its interpretive mission; and the innovation and seriousness of its educational programs.
Its collections are to the historian and the museum professional what a full and intact humanoid skeleton is to the physical anthropologist — a rare find that enables researchers to ask and answer an unusually wide range of questions. Interpretively, themes of broad historical significance resonate in narrative and artifact alike. And its education programs spark genuine involvement with historical issues. This is not history as a game of dress-up, but real content that takes children's minds seriously.
Historic Cherry Hill is no ordinary site. It has achieved recognition at the national level, from a series of National Endowment for the Humanities grants to a rave review form the flagship journal of the American Historical Association.
We cannot allow Cherry Hill to become a casualty of hard times. It needs and deserves your generous donations.
Tamara P. Thornton
Department of History
University at Buffalo