Brookside Farm Museum Receives Collections Assessment Grant

July 3, 2023 — The Brookside Farm Museum has received a $650 Collections Assessment Grant from Conservation ConneCTion, a program that provides small and mid-sized museums with an assessment of their museum collection.  The museum will receive a half-day site visit from an expert museum curator who will examine the collection related to collection care and management and provide a written report.

Founded on July 3, 1976, the Brookside Farm Museum was called the Smith-Harris House and was dedicated as a town museum in East Lyme. It is on the National Register of Historic Places as the Thomas Avery House and sits at 33 Society Road, East Lyme – next door to the East Lyme Community Center.  Today, the Museum offers a historical and educational view of agricultural and domestic life from 1845 to 1955 and is managed by the Brookside Farm Museum Commission and the Friends of Brookside Farm Museum.  Exhibits are in the planning stages to display agricultural history in Southeastern Connecticut.

Since 1976 the museum has received donations of objects that may not have been properly documented or cataloged.  The assessment report will provide recommendations for improving the care and management of its collection which will in turn enable the Museum to determine how best to care for the collection moving forward, including fundraising to support its efforts and the development of an interpretive plan and a preservation plan.             

The Collections Assessment Grant is a program managed by Conservation ConneCTion and is supported through a partnership grant of the Connecticut Heritage Foundation at the Connecticut State Library and CT Humanities (CTH), with funding provided by the Connecticut State Department of Economic and Community Development.

For more information on this grant, CT Humanities or Brookside Farm Museum, contact Annah Perch, Curator at brooksidefarmmuseum@gmail.com, or 860-739-0761.