New Board Officers Look to Future with The WEM Museum’s Restoration
Newly-elected officers to The West End Museum Board of Directors say restoration of Boston’s only neighborhood museum is top of mind for everyone. A flood, caused by burst pipes in the building at 150 Staniford St. this winter, badly damaged the space and exhibits, but plans were already in motion to redesign the facility so it could offer visitors more historical depth about the West End.
According to longtime board member Lois Ascher, while the flood put them back at square one, it gives them the opportunity to build a more innovative and connected space.
“When I think about the Museum’s future, I look at what the West End stood for. And the word I come up with is connection. To do so viscerally, not just [with] photographs,” said Ascher, who recently became the Museum’s first female president. “We’re going to embrace the vision that we’ve been working on for the last two years as we contemplated renovating the museum’s space and changing the way it delivers its message. One thing we talked about prior to the flood was building an immersion room that could recreate spaces from the immigrant neighborhood of the West End from the 1850s to 1950s. One time, it might look like a soda fountain. Another time, it might represent the living room of someone living in a tenement in the West End. It’s really a way to engage people directly with stories and materials.”
Beyond the immersive experience, Museum leaders want to exhibits to tell a broader story, not just about urban renewal and 20th century immigrants, but also about the communities of color that developed early on in the West End.
“We’re enlarging what we do. The West End, even before immigration, was populated by African-Americans. They were an important part of the West End community,” Ascher explained. “The rebuild gives us an opportunity to look at those areas. We’re going to be showcasing their community and notable people like Kitty Knox, who was a bicyclist, and include those visions in the new museum space.”
Integrating those neighborhood connections into the museum’s installations will not only amplify its inclusivity, Ascher says, but also enrich the ways The WEM teaches that history to the current neighborhood, the population of which has grown with the development of more apartments.
“As the West End continues to emerge as a residential community, we want to connect current residents to its larger history. The story of the West End is a story of linkage. It’s linking people to what happened with urban renewal, and also with its history. We want to make all those connections, bring people in and give them a reason to come back. Make it more compelling and more inclusive,” said Ascher. “We’re a neighborhood museum; that’s the operative word. We reflect the neighborhood.”
Re-elected board Vice President Mike Gropman inherited his strong ties to the West End from his father and grandfather. He is thankful many of the museum’s archives were not destroyed in the flood and is confident the updated museum space will improve how the historical archives are showcased and drive new and existing programs.
“I would hope that the interaction with the community increases not only because the space will be updated, but also because the [board] officers are so intertwined in the community. A few board members still live in the West End. They have a pulse of what’s going on in the neighborhood. As the community grows and becomes so dense, you don’t want to lose the perspective of what it once was.” Gropman said. “I look forward to seeing how this space is restored using up-to-date multimedia vehicles to display our archives in a more enhanced, modernized way.”
Recent financial endowments are making some of these upgrades possible and are also aiding in the museum’s recovery. Re-elected board Treasurer Amanda Valenta says those endowments, plus grants and gifts, will help the museum realize its greater potential.
“The recent flood offered the museum to take a [fresh] look at what we wanted. In order to improve the structure of the museum and the designs, the team will build out the programs and sponsorships. The endowments will support the museum and its future state,” Valenta explained, adding that the grants and other financial revenue will also help build up museum staff. Currently, Museum Director Sebastian Belfanti is the WEM’s only full-time employee, but that will soon change.
Incoming board Clerk Duane Lucia, who has served as The WEM’s executive director and board president in the past, emphasizes that the community has always been at the forefront of the programs and exhibits that the museum has established over the years. He adds that The WEM is a centerpiece of the West End community and represents a bridge “between the old and the new.”
“I started working at the museum in 2006 and 2007, when we started broadening the story to focus on colonial history, Black history, immigrant history, infrastructure and how the neighborhood changed over the years—all of that sort of germinated in the West End,” Lucia said. “The challenges are there. [The West End] doesn’t have a school, a community center, or a newspaper. The closest thing it has to a center where people can feel a sense of neighborhood and home is The West End Museum. We’ve sort of become one of the faces of the community. The West End Museum is important to multi-generations. We’ve worked hard to get to this place.”
The museum’s new board officers all noted the instrumental role Belfanti has played in The WEM’s continued operations, in the aftermath of the flood and during the COVID-19 pandemic. He says he looks forward to working with the officers in their new roles.
“I believe that we will accomplish much this year with the museum’s restoration plans already underway,” Belfanti said. “We foresee that the new space to come will continue to exhibit the deep and vivid history of the West End and serve our community.”