Oysterponds Historical Society
All Work | Orient, New York
Oysterponds Historical Society
Orient, New York
Scope
The mission of the Oysterponds Historical Society, in Orient, NY, is to “share and celebrate the unique history of Orient and East Marion”. Founded in 1944 to preserve historical artifacts, the organization, in addition to an extensive material collection, has seven historic buildings in its care. Faced with an over-abundance of artifacts, and no central archival repository, OHS first assembled a team familiar with collections care and architectural preservation, in order to explore the possibilities of reusing one of their buildings as a central respository, or perhaps recommend that a new storage facility be created. JHPA, Inc was part of the team, and collectively it was determined that there were a few good options to be considered. The Collections Care Report charted a path toward an approriate solution. Each of the buildings on the site was examined.
Following careful consideration of the Collections Care Report, it was determined that one of the houses on site, the 19th C Vail House, would, with the construction of a small addition, be an adequate repository, and a new addition could be easily made into an archival space. JHPA, Inc. embarked upon a Feasibilty Study to determine the viability of adaptive reuse of the house, and the impact of an addition on the building and on the site. Concurrently, an Existing Conditions Report was completed for Vail House. Armed with the necessary tools, the organization can move forward toward creating an archival collections center.