October 5, 2022
Monmouth County Historical Association Supporters,
2022 has been a year of innovation and great accomplishment for the Monmouth County Historical Association (MCHA) and we could not be more excited. Here are a few highlights of the year:
-
The State of New Jersey has shifted the teaching of Colonial era history to the upper elementary grades, for which the Amistad Law requires the teaching of slavery within this time period. MCHA found itself perfectly positioned, based largely on its new Living & Breathing project, to provide age-appropriate educational content to the teachers, thereby reaching thousands of children in the Monmouth and Ocean County public schools. Please visit our website and click on Education to view this content--we think you will be impressed!
-
Further, the creation of MCHA’s educational professional development program has received the approval and support from the following educational organizations and has been shared with hundreds of history teachers in Monmouth and Ocean Counties:
-
The NJ Council for Social Studies
-
The NJ School Boards Association
-
The NJ Education Association’s Office of Civil and Human Rights
-
The NJ Historical Commission
-
Monmouth University’s School of Education
-
The Monmouth-Ocean Educational Services Commission
-
Director of Education Dana Howell presented our educational program at the 2022 National Council for the Social Studies in Philadelphia, which was an amazing honor.
-
Our award-winning exhibit, Beneath the Floorboards: Whispers of the Enslaved at Marlpit Hall has received local, regional and national acclaim, winning for the second year in a row the Giles R. Wright Award from the NJ Historical Commission!
-
Director of Collections Bernadette Rogoff and Associate Curator Joe Zemla were lead presenters at the NJ Historical Conference in Trenton, at the 2022 International Society for Historical Archaeology annual conference and at the Sankofa Collaborative Conference at Grounds for Sculpture; again, all amazing honors.
-
All of our historic homes have been open to the public for the first time since COVID began, once again welcoming students, teachers, history buffs and lifelong learners through our doors.
-
We have presented seven Historically Speaking lectures and have over 1037 items on our E-Museum, viewed by over 5000 patrons from 92 countries, all free to the public. If you missed one of our amazing lectures, please know that you can find them all on our YouTube channel!
-
We have done hundreds of historical searches through our archives for the public.
-
Our social media posts have never been more robust with three posts every week and new and exciting videos on Instagram featuring our major fundraising events.
-
We are launching campaigns to renovate and restore our beloved Allen House in Shrewsbury and Covenhoven in Freehold, both in need of repair...250+ years of weather takes its toll on wood.
-
In 2023, MCHA will be celebrating its 125th Anniversary. To commemorate this anniversary, the main museum will reopen with “125 Years of Collecting” featuring the best of our collection.
I am delighted to have moved back from Florida to Monmouth County where my roots run deep and to find myself as the new Executive Director at the helm of such a strong and innovative organization with its new focus on K-12 education, an exciting addition to our award-winning historical exhibits. MCHA could not do this groundbreaking and important work without the help and generosity of our supporters, volunteers and docents. We kindly ask that you consider a year end gift to MCHA so that we can keep and grow these important educational programs for you and our children and maintain our historic homes and museum.
Thank you for your consideration.
All the very best,
Shannon Eadon
Executive Director
