[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 4030-4031]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO DONALD FRIARY

 Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, Donald R. Friary, Executive 
Director and Secretary at Historic Deerfield since 1975, who has been 
on staff since 1965, will retire from his present position on December 
31, as the western Massachusetts museum concludes a year-long 
celebration of its 50th anniversary. Friary, who announced his 
retirement in early 2001, has been named Director Emeritus and on 
January 1, 2003 will begin work as Historic Deerfield's Senior Research 
Fellow. In announcing Donald Friary's retirement, Henry N. Flynt, Jr., 
Chairman of the museum's Board of Trustees and son of the museum's 
founders said, ``Historic Deerfield is profoundly grateful for Don 
Friary's energy, imagination and strong leadership throughout his 
remarkable twenty-seven years as Executive Director. The successful 
completion of the campaign that made the Flynt Center of Early New 
England Life a reality, exemplifies his extraordinary skills as both a 
leader and a fundraiser. I reflect the Board's deep appreciation for 
Don's strong and steady hand through the years. We are particularly 
pleased that he has agreed to accept an important new position at 
Historic Deerfield upon his retirement as Executive Director, namely 
that of Senior Research Fellow.''
  Commenting on his plans to step down as Executive Director Friary 
said, ``Guiding and fostering the development of Historic Deerfield 
over these past twenty-seven years has been an extraordinary 
experience. The ability of this institution to raise the funds 
necessary to make possible the steady growth of the museum and library 
collections, the expansion of programs, the increase in both the 
quality and number of staff, and one of the museum's crowning 
achievements to date--the creation of the Flynt Center of Early New 
England Life--has been deeply rewarding for me during my tenure as 
Director. Deerfield has been home to me and to my family, it has shaped 
our lives and given much to us, as we have given much to it. Now, I 
greatly anticipate doing what I have hoped to do since I first came 
here as a graduate student nearly forty years ago--undertake the 
research that will allow me to write and lecture about the history of 
Deerfield and the Historic Deerfield collections. I look forward to 
keeping in contact with our varied constituencies--our staff, our 
members and supporters, our Summer Fellows, and all who make this such 
a unique and exciting place to live and work.''
  Donald Friary is one of the longest serving directors of a major 
American museum. He completed his twenty-seventh year at Historic 
Deerfield's helm and thirty-seventh year on staff when he stepped down 
as the museum's CEO at the end of 2002. He was a graduate student in 
1965 when he accepted the position of Head Tutor of the Historic 
Deerfield Summer Fellowship Program in Early American History and the 
Decorative Arts. A native of Boston, and a graduate of the Boston Latin 
School and Brown University, he holds a Ph.D. in American Civilization 
from the University of Pennsylvania. He served as the museum's first 
Director of Academic Programs from 1971 to 1973 and was named Assistant 
Director and then Executive Director in 1975.
  Friary has been honored by election to the American Antiquarian 
Society, the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, and the Massachusetts 
Historical Society. He has served on the Boards of the Bay State 
Historical League, the Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife, the 
Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, the Winterthur Museum's 
Education Committee, and the Hill-Stead Museum. He was a Trustee and 
then President of the Williamstown Art Conservation Center where an 
endowed conservation fellowship bears his name.
  Over the last three decades, Friary has brought together a staff of 
curators, conservators, and other highly skilled professionals in a 
variety of fields to manage, market and interpret Deerfield's 
nationally renowned collections of decorative arts and the 18th and 
19th century houses in which they are displayed. Under his direction 
the museum has developed a reputation for excellence in programming, 
interpretation, and the preservation of the historic buildings and the 
open space entrusted to its care. Friary was instrumental in forging an 
agreement of affiliation for teaching and research between Historic 
Deerfield and the Five College consortium in 1986 and has, himself, 
taught several courses at Smith College through that affiliation. In 
1990 he was actively involved as a founder of the Deerfield Land Trust, 
which has, to date, saved more than 1600 acres of town farmland from 
development.
  As Historic Deerfield's major fundraiser, Friary, with some Historic 
Deerfield Trustees and the museum's development office staff, raised 
the more than $12 million needed to design, build and endow the Flynt 
Center of Early New England Life, which opened in 1998. In 2000, on the 
occasion of his twenty-fifth anniversary as Executive Director, the 
Center's major exhibition space was named the Donald R. Friary 
Exhibition Gallery recognizing the role his leadership played in 
bringing this ambitious project to a successful conclusion.
  Friary began the Friends of Historic Deerfield in 1976 and today 2000 
members in 44 States and 7 foreign countries contribute a significant 
amount to the museum's operating budget each year. When the Deerfield 
Inn burned in 1979, Friary led the Board of Trustees in raising the 
$1.5 million necessary to repair, refurbish, and modernize the original 
19th century building, which remains today a centerpiece of the 333-
year-old village for the thousands of tourists and travelers who come 
to Deerfield each year from throughout the world.
  Donald Friary's colleagues and students note that among his many 
accomplishments at Historic Deerfield has been his adherence to the 
highest standards of excellence in the conservation and presentation of 
the museum's nationally renowned collections for the benefit of all who 
visit and study at Historic Deerfield each year. Friary summed up his 
personal hope for the institution's future in the inaugural issue of 
the museum's semi-annual magazine, published in Winter

[[Page 4031]]

2001, when he said, ``Historic Deerfield must and will maintain the 
standards of excellence that inspired our founders Henry and Helen 
Flynt, that have guided our staff and Trustees, and that continue to 
assure our visitors that at Historic Deerfield they have access to the 
story of New England's and America's past.''
  Friary brought the endowment phase of the museum's capital campaign 
to a successful conclusion at the end of 2001 and has spent time in 
2002 traveling across the country celebrating Historic Deerfield's 50th 
anniversary with hundreds of constituents in several states. In the 
last several months he has overseen preparations to launch a new 
campaign to fund a Children's Discovery Center, which is scheduled to 
open in 2004. And, he is working on several collaborative initiatives 
as the town of Deerfield prepares to commemorate the tercentenary of 
its infamous 1704 French and Indian attack, which will take place 
during 2004.
  On the occasion of his well-deserved retirement, I salute Donald 
Friary for his dedication and outstanding service to Historic 
Deerfield, to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and to the 
nation.

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