Volume_29_Issue_2

Preservation & Progress Volume 29, Issue 2 7 Since the doors of the Museum and Visitor Center opened in 2008, we’ve accomplished a great deal together. Thank you for preserving and protecting nearly 600 acres of significant lands associated with the battle of Gettysburg, including the George Spangler Farm, Gettysburg’s historic railroad station, the Armory, Cemetery Hill, and more. Thank you for helping return the battlefield to its appearance—as much as possible—at the time of the fighting of the Battle of Gettysburg. You’ve demolished intrusions on the historic scene such as the former Visitor Center and Cyclorama buildings along Cemetery Ridge, and modern homes built along Baltimore Pike near the Visitor Center entrance. Together we also buried utility lines in major battle action areas at Devil’s Den, the Slyder Farm, and along Emmitsburg Road. Thank you for raising $103 million for the design and construction of the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center. It is an outstanding facility for many reasons, including: • The 139,000 square foot Museum and Visitor Center is Gold certified in LEED—Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design—a certification system for healthy, highly efficient, and cost-saving green buildings. • The Gettysburg Foundation funds building operations through revenues generated by tickets sales to the film, cyclorama and museum exhibits, as well as bookstore and café sales. • The facility has welcomed more than 8 million visitors since opening in 2008. • The Foundation and NPS share offices and work space in the facility. From revenues, the Foundation donates approximately $1.1 million annually to the NPS, including cash and in-kind services (rent, utilities, custodial, support for the care of museum collections, and more). During the past ten years, the Gettysburg Foundation has supported many other important park projects including the stewardship of monuments and cannon carriages. You’ve funded the renting of special lift equipment to allow for the restoration of the New York State Memorial, the Pennsylvania Memorial, the Stannard monument and others. You’ve provided long-term support for the cannon carriage restoration, including the move from rented facilities to a new, improved shop located at the Armory building in 2015. Park visitors and the public benefit from your support for excellence in interpretation and education programming. You’ve helped fund the travelling trunk program, the Junior Ranger and Junior Secret Service agent programs, temporary exhibits, teacher development programs, and a variety of youth education initiatives. Friends volunteers have played key roles at the Museum and Visitor Center and beyond, including visitor services, fence building, orchard planting, painting of historic houses, barns and fences, and much more. You can never have enough Friends! And the Gettysburg Foundation has more than 20,000 Friends of Gettysburg who show their support in large and small ways every day. In short, every visitor to Gettysburg National Military Park and Eisenhower National Historic Site benefits in a very real way from our partnership with the Gettysburg Foundation. It often starts at the Museum and Visitor Center but it doesn’t end there. The contributions of the Friends of Gettysburg to support these efforts are critically important and something most National Park Service superintendents can only dream about. As a teenager from New York, I well remember the time my parents brought me to see and learn about Gettysburg National Military Park. I particularly remember visiting the spot where President Abraham Lincoln delivered his immortal address. In 2008, I once again visited Gettysburg shortly after the opening of the Museum and Visitor Center. At that time, now as an NPS employee, it was almost incomprehensible for me to believe what your partnership with us had done to enhance the visitor experience at this world iconic battlefield park. From me a decade later…thank you. Opening Ceremony for the Museum and Visitor Center. The first visitors to the Museum and Visitor Center.