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 Calling all active duty military! Through the Blue Star Museums program, active duty military and their families may visit The Gamble House for free between Memorial Day and Labor Day, 2012. More than 1,500 museums participate nationwide. |
December 2012 Dear friends of The Gamble House, It has been another busy and productive year at The Gamble House! Looking back, one of the true highlights of 2012 took place on April 22 when nearly 1,000 visitors had the rare opportunity to tour six Greene and Greene properties in the Park Place neighborhood near The Gamble House. Arroyo's Edge: Greene & Greene Interiors 2012 was a great success thanks to the generous homeowners willing to open their doors to the public and the scores of volunteers who worked hard to make the day go so smoothly, all to support The Gamble House!
Duncan-Irwin House - Arroyo's Edge Tour 2012. Photo: Tom Moore The Sidney D. Gamble Lecture Series offered an excellent roster of educational events this year as members learned about California modern design, enjoyed special visits to the Greene and Greene Archives, Griswold Conservation Associates, and the recently restored Japanese House at The Huntington. The FOGH Annual Meeting was held in Long Beach at the Jennie Reeve house (Greene & Greene, 1904) where we learned about the sensitive restoration going forward there. In short, a wide array of stimulating events was offered to FOGH members throughout the year. Staff transitions also took place in 2012. Following 17 years of dedicated service, Bobbi Mapstone retired in February. During her tenure she spearheaded many important initiatives for The Gamble House—most memorably the development of our specialized touring program, which has been so popular. Sarah Stehly, our former bookstore manager, also departed this year, primarily to fulfill her dream of being a fuller-time mom to her two lucky children. Our gratitude and best wishes go to both Bobbi and Sarah, whom we will miss. On a bright Sunday in May we celebrated the 23rd-annual Museums of the Arroyo Day by opening our doors free of charge to the community. This festive event routinely attracts upwards of ten times our normal number of Sunday guests, including many first-time visitors. In June we welcomed nearly 150 university architects from around the country for a special tour and reception, and in July we re-routed tours at The Gamble House to allow conservation work to take place on the original white-oak hardwood floors in the entry hall and in Mr. Gamble's den. Next summer, if sufficient donations are in hand, we will continue this conservation work into the living room, dining room and guest bedroom areas. Thanks are due to an anonymous donor, and to Ken and Cherie Swenson, for making generous gifts to the floor conservation project in 2012. In early September the Greene & Greene Archives received a gift of personal papers from the estate of the late Dr. Robert Judson Clark, who pioneered the revival of interest in the Arts and Crafts movement in the early 1970s. It is largely thanks to Dr. Clark, with former Gamble House director, Randell Makinson, that interest in the Greenes and the broader movement found a national audience. The late Professor's bequest will provide researchers with important new data to aid future scholarship and publications. Funding is needed, though, to process, conserve and make available to researchers this important collection. Also in September we celebrated our superb volunteer corps, the Docent Council of The Gamble House. Upwards of one hundred Docents garnered the President's Volunteer Service Awards from The White House this year. We also celebrated Nancy Marino and her 15th and final year co-chairing Docent Training, a program that has been hailed as one of the finest of its kind anywhere. Generous donations in Nancy's honor have established the Nancy Marino Docent Training Endowment, which, when fully funded, will provide income in perpetuity to defray the expenses of operating this superb program. These are just a few of the activities and programs that have filled the past year. As you know, preservation and outreach at The Gamble House is not expense-free. Tour revenue, endowment income, bookstore sales, membership and gifts go a long way, but it's your generous support at year's end that closes the budget gap! My thanks go again to the more than 120 donors who helped us meet our budget last year. I write today asking that you place your name among those who will be supporting the exciting initiatives envisioned for the coming year. Along with the above-noted projects, we plan to publish a new book on The Gamble House, make significant progress on an important landscape initiative, provide enhancements for the on-line Greene and Greene Virtual Archives, and continue critically needed conservation work on The Gamble House. There is a lot to do, and we mean to do it! Please give as generously as you can to ensure that we may preserve The Gamble House and deliver the educational programming that our visitors and members expect and deserve. The Gamble House is a precious historic resource; I am so grateful for your help today so that we can safeguard our beloved landmark for tomorrow. Thank you! Sincerely, Edward R. Bosley  |
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