The State Historical Society of Wisconsin operates a Museum Division, a
Library Division and an Archives Division (the latter two now in the
process of an administrative merger), as well as the State Historic
Preservation Office, a Division of Public History (which oversees
publications and state-wide services for schools and local historical
groups) and the Division of Historic Sites which operates a number of
museums and sites outside Madison.

The Society is a quasi-state agency (neither in the Governor's cabinet
nor under the State Superintendent of Education), with a Board mostly
elected by members but also with a number of representatives appointed
by the Governor, the State Assembly Speaker and the State Senate
Majority Leader.  The importance of these latter Board members is
magnified by the fact that the majority of the SHSW's operating and
capital funds are appropriated by the Legislature in the biennial state
budgets.  The Society's Executive Director is appointed by the Board,
not the Governor, but of course a selection opposed by the Governor or
key legislators would be, shall we say, ill-advised.

There is also an Administrative Services division which provides
accounting, human resources, information technology and other services
shared by the program divisions.  The state Division of Facilities
Management plays a large role in all building-related needs, such as
major maintentance and new construction.  The Wisconsin History
Foundation is a related 501(c)3 which focuses on raising non-state funds
for the Society, an increasingly important activity.

Hope this is helpful.  While political pressures on SHSW are inevitable,
the governance structure does tend to slightly reduce their direct
effect on day-to-day program activities (although they do continue the
unfortunate practice of lending museum collections artifacts {mostly
paintings} to elected officials for their offices, some of whom have
come to feel entitled to this perk).
--

Doug Kendall, Curator of Collections
New York State Historical Association & The Farmers' Museum
P.O. Box 800, Cooperstown NY 13326 USA
(607) 547-1449     [log in to unmask]

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