Community Board 8 questions partnership with Colonial Dames overseeing Van Cortlandt House Museum. Concerns raised over inclusivity and community engagement. May meeting planned for further discussion.
Applications are open for stewardship of the historic Van Cortlandt House a stone dwelling built by the owner of a slave plantation in the Bronx. It’s now curated by The National Society of Colonial Dames of New York, an organization whose membership is limited to descendants of white colonialists. The Dames want to extend their stewardship. And the people of The Bronx shouldn’t stand for it.
(This is in response to Danielle Herbert Guggenheim’s point of view on the National Society of Colonial Dames of New York’s stewardship of the Van Cortlandt House.)
On behalf of the NSCDNY (National Society of Colonial Dames of New York), I appreciate Mrs. Guggenheim’s candor and welcome the dialogue that we hope will follow. While I do not agree with every point that she makes in her letter, I firmly agree with her sentiment that America is not defined by one type of person or perspective. The Dames’ mission is one of preservation, education, and patriotic Service for ALL Americans, and I hope that comes across in the work that the Dames do.
Community Board 8 members questioned last week whether the stewards at Van Cortlandt House Museum were the right fit for the community. The New York Chapter of the National Society of Colonial Dames has been critiqued for a “lack of programming” and their membership criteria, which some have argued is exclusionary to people of color.
Riverdale has been known for many landmarks over its long history from Van Cortlandt Park and Van Cortlandt House to the Riverdale Neighborhood House to Wave Hill. But there is really just one that screams Riverdale when you see it.