Historical Society

I’d like to respond to some statements in the article (Part I, May 12) about the meeting of the 70 California Historical Society members, librarians and historians called to discuss the closure of the CHS library, among other things. A coalition called the Friends of the California Historical Society was formed, whose goal is to re-open the library and stop the sale of its Whittier Mansion headquarters.

This group of concerned people is not, as Nancy Maushardt (president of the board of trustees of CHS) said, mostly “loyalists to former executive director (James) Holliday.” He did not call the meeting, and most of us never met him before. He was just one of many people that night who spoke up and gave an opinion. Mrs. Maushardt herself was invited to the meeting.

Also in the article she stated “ . . . This group has possibly a different philosophy on how the society should be run. I’m a fiscal conservative. I don’t believe in running deficits.” Well, neither do we. We, as members, want to investigate how the society got into its deficit position. I personally believe that it’s due to a lack of proper fund-raising and incompetent management of funds.

CHS is a membership organization, and the members would like to have input into how the society is run. With the current board of trustees, we have been left in the dark.

DEBRA RICHARDS

San Francisco