CB8 questions the compatibility of Colonial Dames

The Community Board 8 parks and recreation committee has questioned The National Society of Colonial Dames 100-year partnership with the city’s parks department and the Van Cortlandt House Museum, where the organization oversees operations.

In a Feb. 20 letter to the current and former presidents of the Colonial Dames, Debra Travis, parks committee chair, listed her concerns about the organization’s ability to run the museum while, she said, falling short as a community partner.

Travis’s concerns with the Colonial Dames she said, stems from the group’s requirement members of the society must be women who are demonstrated direct descendants of a person of prominence born before July 1776.

Among her list of concerns Travis wrote, the Colonial Dames might lack “strategic vision for this educational destination on colonial history in a predominantly Black, brown, multicultural, -lingual, -country of origin community.”

In the letter, Travis wrote the society lacked an active presence within the community as well as engaging outreach to local public, parochial, and charter schools and nonprofits working with school-aged children.

Travis asked the Colonial Dames to appear before the CB8 parks committee with a plan for investments in the capital needs of the museum, programming that expands the community’s understanding of history from a multi-faceted experience and a plan to expand community-wide engagement as well as create engaging and inclusive programming for people of all ages and languages.

The Colonial Dames last appeared at the parks committee’s January meeting to discuss its continued operation of the museum despite an expired license, which the parks department has continued to honor for nearly 10 years.

Travis’s said the Colonial Dames’ membership requirements exclude a large majority of the diverse population of the Bronx.

While the requirements govern Colonial Dames membership, they do not apply to programming held at the museum because it is publicly owned property. That, Travis wrote, is part of the problem.

“Any organization that utilizes a New York City publicly owned property,” Travis wrote, “must contribute substantially to the community through programming and services, limit fees imposed on the community, and do so without discrimination of any kind.”

Clint Allen, properties manager for the Colonial Dames, said the group is adhering to its mission.

“The organization’s goal is historic preservation and education along with patriotic and community service,” Allen said.

In her letter, Travis said she wants to see more.

“We would like your presentation to detail exact activities, programs or investments that you have completed or intend to complete, and outline the concrete steps you will take,” Travis wrote to the Dames.

At the February CB8 parks committee meeting, member David Gellman told Travis he felt the letter to the Colonial Dames was too confrontational in tone, but later told The Press he agreed with the concerns Travis listed. 

Travis said the intention of the letter was to express areas in which the committee feels improvements need to be made in order to renew the Colonial Dames’ license to continue operating the Van Cortlandt House Museum.

Allen said the organization has accepted the invitation to return to the parks committee in May.