Suffolk Historical Society Writing a New Chapter

Executive Director Kathy Curran wants you to know that the Suffolk County Historical Society is more than your average historical society; it's a historical center.

The wording, though subtle, could play an important part of the West Main Street nonprofit's branding moving forward. At least, Curran is hoping.

The organization currently has an application in with the town, and the State Historic Preservation Office, to put up banners spanning the sides of three walls reading: Suffolk History Center.

"We will always be the Suffolk County Historical Society," she said recently. "But to let people know that this is a history center. That we do have rotating exhibitions. That we do have a research library. That we are positioning ourselves to be a cultural and educational resource that we are supposed to be. That will make us the West Main Street anchor for downtown Riverhead."

Curran, who stepped into her role in 2011, has been working to build beyond the "historical society" label since she took over. In February 2012, she came before the town board with Community Development Director Christine Kempner, pitching an idea to partner with the town in purchasing land on the Peconic River, in hopes of starting a "river walk" through downtown. The cost of the land ended up being too rich for the nonprofit's blood, though a rebranding – and an expansion – could still hit the mark.

In the shorter term, Curran is looking to renovate a room on the upper floor from the storage space it is currently, to more gallery space. The room, roughly 30-by-30 feet wide, needs new lighting and HVAC work and with a $25,000 gift, she is hoping to raise $25,000 to match to get the work done.

Longer term, a new, handicap-accessible wing (the building, built in the 1930s, is currently not handicap-accessible) off of the rear would come at a much higher cost: $500,000 to $700,000, depending on the materials used and how much can be raised.

With a black and white banner on the building, Curran would hope to attract the eyeballs of over 1,200 jurors that come to the Suffolk County courts each week, not to mention the thousands of cars that drive up West Main Street day-by-day.

The banner is described as follows: "The banners are conceived to be mesh allowing visibility of the brick with applied black lettering and silhouettes. The windows will have opaque inserts.  This creates a 'temporary' contextual installation that utilizes the Historical Society's collection of broadside lettering and images. "

"If you're driving past here at 40 miles per hour, you're going to know what we are: that we are a cultural site," Curran said.

Because the historical society gets some of its funding from state and federal resources, and it is on the National Register of Historic Places, certain parameters will have to be met moving forward; it's unclear as of now what banners will be permitted on the building. But added signage, she is hoping, would provide the foot traffic and more sponsors to help fund an addition to the building.

And before any fundraising needs to be done, Curran has implemented one more measure to change things up: hours have changed at the historical society, from Tuesdays through Saturdays, 12:30 - 4:30 p.m., to Wednesdays through Saturdays, 10:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.