National Society of Colonial Dames of America in the State of Nh

NSCDA-NH's most significant activity is to preserve and interpret its historic house museum, the Moffatt-Ladd House and Garden, through guided tours, public programs, exhibitions, publications, and outreach to schools. The museum's purpose is to interpret American, NH, and local history through the lives and possessions of the inhabitants of the house. See Pt III & Sch O.

NSCDA-NH owns, operates, interprets, and maintains, according to the strictest standards of historic preservation, the Moffatt-Ladd House and Garden at 154 Market Street in Portsmouth, NH, as a historic house museum complex. Staff supervise the maintenance, interpretation, and display of the museum's collections and research the collections and the history of the house and its inhabitants to present public programs, prepare materials for publication, and constantly update tour content, school and youth programs, and online resources. A national historic landmark, the house is open to the public for tours seven days a week from the beginning of June through the third weekend in October, and is a member of the Portsmouth Historic Sites Associates and the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail, and partners with other non-profit organizations such as Pro-Portsmouth, the New Hampshire Film Festival, the Piscataqua Maritime Commission, Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains, and the Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival. In 2017, 7,035 people visited the site, for tours and programs. We had fewer visitors on Children's Day, and fewer people at our venue for the Film Festival, and Wreaths and Trees takes place only every other year. These differences account for the drop in attendance. Regular visitation for house tours remained constant. Some programs were up, including the Girl Scouts overnights, and our first 'Harvesting History' fall festival did well. We also held a three-day workshop for museum educators and teachers in August as part of our 'Exploring the Issue of Slavery in the Era of the American Revolution,' educational program. The workshop was funded through a grant from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation and enhanced and expanded the impact of that IMLS-funded program. In the spring we again worked with Portsmouth High School, and in the fall with the Coheco Arts and Technical Academy in Dover. Lesson plans developed by participants are now being reviewed and will be uploaded to our website in 2018. The IMLS grant period was extended through the end of November 2018. In 2017, the most important museum-related maintenance activity was repairing and painting the walls and trim in the parlor and repairing plaster and painting one wall and the ceiling in the kitchen. The Counting House entryway needed extensive repairs to the plaster. Following repairs the walls and ceiling were painted. Work continued through the end of the year on the Counting House building because of the discovery of insect damage in the north wall. In 2017, we held a new fall program 'Harvesting History' which attracted about 500 visitors to see displays by about 2 dozen exhibitors. Our garden party with a silent auction was the major fundraiser of the year, raising funds to assist with the parlor restoration project. We also hosted a variety of public lectures, tours, demonstrations, and performances, as well as school tours for students in 3rd grade through high school.