Strategic Plan
2025 - 2028

Approved by the MHS Board of Trustees on May 20, 2025

Vision Statement

The Madison Historical Society (MHS) preserves the past
to provide context to the present and to inform the future.

Mission Statement

The Madison Historical Society preserves, interprets, and celebrates the stories of our town as told through its people, artifacts, architecture, and landscapes.

The MHS:

• Sponsors programs and maintains venues that enable public appreciation of Madison’s history and its relevance to all residents and visitors;
• Protects the historic character of Madison by being good stewards of the MHS properties and its collection and by advocating for preservation of Madison’s historic structures and places;
• Celebrates the elements of Madison’s cultural history that have created and continue to bind our community.

History and Background

The Madison Historical Society (MHS) is a nonprofit 501(c)3 museum and research center that serves as resource for the community by providing programs that explore topics of Madison Connecticut's  history. Founded in 1917, the Society owns three historic sites: Lee’s Academy located on Meetinghouse Lane in the Madison Green National Historic District, the Allis-Bushnell House located at 853 Boston Post Road, and the Smallpox Burying Ground located on the western bank of the East River in Guilford. Lee’s Academy serves as the Society’s headquarters and houses its administrative offices, library, and portions of its archival resources. In addition, it is the home of the Madison Center for History and Culture (MCHC), an exhibit and meeting space. The Allis-Bushnell House is interpreted as an historic house museum and also serves as the primary storage site for the Society’s collection of 10,000-plus objects and documents.

The Society offers educational programs for schoolchildren and adults. All Madison second- and fifth-grade students participate in the Society’s history programs, featuring Madison history themes, places, and historical figures. The Frederick Lee Lectures, the History Happy Hour events, and the History Book Group, as well as other special annual or occasional events, provide the community with adult education programs. The Society’s exhibitions and website explore themes in Madison history. Its Historical Happenings quarterly newsletter offers news on programs, events, and local history.

Identity Statement

We advance our mission of collecting, preserving, and interpreting artifacts and information that illustrate Madison's role in local, regional, and national history. The Society provides leadership that encourages broad public engagement in Madison's history. Through our exhibits, educational events, publications, website, social media, digital archives, and entertainments, the Society serves Madison citizens and visitors of all ages, with special curriculum-linked programming for students in Grades 2 through 12. We strive to serve people living, working, and learning in Madison and the surrounding towns, as well as those visiting the area.

The budget for our programs and the salaries of our staff are sustained through membership dues, fundraising events, and special donation drives, including our Annual Appeal, an annual membership drive, the Great Give, grants, and the Council for Madison History, an advisory donor group.

Strategic Planning

The current MHS strategic planning process for 2025-2028 began on December 11, 2024, with a trustee review and discussion of appropriate revision of the 2019-2021 plan. This ad-hoc meeting was a prelude to a board retreat to discuss a new strategic plan.

Strategic Goals

The Madison Historical Society’s strategic goals are organized under the six units defined under the American Association of State and Local History’s Standards and Excellence Program for History Organizations (StEPS). These units are Mission/Vision/Governance; Management; Historic Properties and Landscapes; Collections; Audience; and Interpretation. In 2013 the MHS participated in the StEPS-CT program developed by the Connecticut League of Museums and Connecticut Humanities.

Mission / Vision / Governance

Strategic Goal: The MHS will revise its bylaws as needed but at least every three years. The most recent revision was completed in Spring 2025.

Strategic Goal: The MHS will review its organizational mission, vision, strategic plan, and governing policies on a three-year schedule.

Strategic Goal: The Board of Trustees will initiate a conflict of interest policy to be applied to its staff, board, and volunteer committee members.

Management (Finance / Membership / Administration)

Strategic Goal: The MHS will undertake a rolling three-year financial viability plan to be updated annually.  It will include a development strategy to ensure funding for the operation and staffing of the Society; maintenance and capital improvements at all current properties; and stewardship of MHS collections.

Strategic Goal: The MHS will identify new major fundraising efforts (such as the Council for Madison History) and implement a schedule of fundraising events.

Strategic Goal: The MHS will develop realistic goals to increase membership annually.

Strategic Goal: The MHS will regularly review office technology and determine timing of an appropriate replacement strategy.

Strategic Goal: The MHS will formalize process of identifying grant opportunities within the ED responsibilities and ensure timely application writing.

Strategic Goal: The MHS will establish/maintain formal relationships with Madison nonprofit entities and with area history organizations.

Strategic Goal: The MHS will formalize its process of identifying volunteer opportunities and will create a volunteer oversight committee.

Strategic Goal: The MHS will establish as a priority the adoption of digital media to increase access to our collections, educational programs, events and to extend the reach of our traditional activities.

Historic Properties and Landscapes

Strategic Goal: The MHS will continue its careful survey of the needs of its three current properties and collections and will implement maintenance plans for preservation, security, safety, and ADA-compliant access at all properties.

Strategic Goal: The MHS will complete its plan for improvements at the Allis-Bushnell House, including its Annex and Garden, and will complete its ongoing care and storage of all MHS collections at that location.

Strategic Goal: The MHS will begin to assess the best uses of additional properties it expects to be given to the Society in the future and will develop new programmatic plans for potential new properties. The Johnson Family Home is one such property.

Strategic Goal: The MHS will fulfill its mission to help protect all endangered historic properties in Madison.

It will:

• Establish a rolling three-year maintenance plan for all MHS-owned properties (Properties Committee);
• Maintain a list of historic properties, structures, and ruins in Madison and report regularly on any changes or concerns (Preservation Committee);
• Build public awareness of historic buildings, landscapes, and streetscapes. (Preservation Committee; Events Committee; Marketing & Publicity Committee) 

Collections

Strategic Goal: The Collections Committee will formalize a Collection Plan to guide future processes for acquisition/divestiture and retention.

Strategic Goal: The Collections Committee will continue its renewed efforts to organize all collections material at Lee’s Academy and at the Allis-Bushnell House. All materials essential to the MHS mission and relevant to Madison will be accessioned, recorded in the MHS collections database, and properly stored in each property, as appropriate.

Strategic Goal: The Collections Committee will curate a state-of-the-art searchable archive/library of all MHS books, photographs, digital images, and documents for both public and research use.

Strategic Goal: The MHS will maintain its digital collection of images of buildings, artifacts, paintings, photographs, books, and other items. This collection of digital images should be accessible to the public. The Collections Committee, in consultation with managers of other digital archives, should evaluate the protection of this collection in perpetuity.

Strategic Goal: The MHS will develop a searchable registry or catalog of all MHS books, photographs, paintings, and artifacts located in MHS properties.

Audience & Community

Strategic Goal: The MHS will expand and improve communication to share its mission and vision with the public and with other history organizations in Connecticut.

Strategic Goal: The MHS will increase its efforts to promote the riches of the collection and the usefulness of its trove of historic information for professional and amateur students of history. 

It will:

• Increase the MHS presence at off-site locations such as schools, library, senior center, banks;
• Expand efforts to engage the community through events, workshops, and programs;
• Continue the use of social media to reach new audiences;
• Develop specialized, focused outreach to such groups as young families, singles, teens, and seniors.
• Make MHS collections more visible and accessible to the public;
• Broadly use pamphlets, bumper stickers, magnets, circulars, and mailers.

Interpretation

Strategic Goal: The MHS will use electronic media to bring history to broader groups through, for example, live-streamed events, videos, podcasts, and social media engagement.

Strategic Goal: The MHS will continue to:

• offer open houses at the Allis-Bushnell House
• execute changing exhibitions at the MCHC and AB House, and
• add collection photographs to HistoryPin and Flickr (Education, Exhibits, and Collections Committees).