HONORING HIS MEMORY: The family of Elric Endersby has established an endowment through the Princeton Area Community Foundation to support an internship in his honor at the Historical Society of Princeton (HSP). On hand at the ceremony on April 9 were, from left, Mathieu Nelessen, Community Foundation president and CEO; Douglas Chia, HSP board president; and family members Deborah Endersby Gwazda and Edward Gwazda.
By Anne Levin
At a ceremony held on April 9 at Updike Farm, home of the Historical Society of Princeton (HSP), an endowment in memory of historian Elric Endersby was formally created by his family through a Princeton Area Community Foundation fund.
Endersby, who died on October 13 at the age of 79, was a key figure in local historic preservation. Among his accomplishments were serving on the Princeton Historical Commission, founding the oral history journal The Princeton Recollector, co-founding the New Jersey Barn Company in Ringoes, and co-authoring the books Barn: The Art of a Working Building in 1992 and Barn: Preservation and Adaptation in 2014.
More than 90 gifts totaling nearly $24,000 have already been received by the HSP, from preservationists, friends, and colleagues. “The internships have already inspired a lot of interest,” said Stephanie Schwartz, curator of education at the HSP. “That shows just how much people care about history and the humanities.”
“The outpouring of memorial tributes to Elric reflects the wide range of people that he touched personally,” said his brother-in-law Edward Gwazda in a press release. “The family is happy to initiate funding for this endowment at the Princeton Area Community Foundation, whose commitment to meeting our family’s legacy intent gives us confidence in a promising future for the Internship.”
The Elric Johnson Endersby Internship in Public History Endowment at the Community Foundation will support an annual paid summer position that celebrates his contributions to local history and architectural preservation, as well as his commitment to mentoring young people with whom he worked.
“Elric understood that the next generation needs to be aware of the value of preservation, so he encouraged students to appreciate the old ways and appearances,” said his sister Deborah Endersby Gwazda. “The Historical Society of Princeton is an ideal home for this internship, and we are grateful for the enthusiasm they have shown for honoring his legacy.”
Historian and author Clifford Zink, who knew Endersby for decades, said establishment of the internship is an appropriate way to honor him.
“I knew Ric when he started The Recollector, and he was always open to young people coming in and learning about history,” Zink said. “He was always so willing to share his knowledge, and everything he knew, even in his later years at the historical commission. So it’s very fitting for the Historical Society, where he worked through generations of staff and board members, to be able to bring interns on board to learn about public history.”
Endersby grew up in Princeton, where he attended public schools and knew from the age of 6 that he wanted to be an architect. He graduated from Trinity College in Connecticut and studied preservation architecture at the Cooperstown Graduate Program at SUNY Oneonta. He founded The Princeton Recollector in 1975. The digitized archives of the journal and the voices it preserved are now available at the HSP and the Princeton University Library.
The New Jersey Barn Company, which he co-founded some years later, restored historic homes and barns across the state and the mid-Atlantic region, including the 18th century Edmund Burroughs House in Princeton, landing the company on the cover of the magazine Architectural Digest.
“My uncle was a prolific documenter of timber-framed buildings,” said Endersby’s nephew Farley Gwazda, who worked closely with him to organize and preserve his drawings, photographs, and archival materials. “His meticulously measured drawings of over 700 structures constitute the most comprehensive record of barns in the Mid-Atlantic region. The work we undertook together has helped ensure that these historically invaluable materials will be preserved and made accessible as a living archive.”
Endersby’s enthusiasm and encouragement for young people extended to his work doing barn restorations. “They always needed a crew of young guys to help wrestle the barn beams,” said Zink. “He would share his knowledge with them, talking about the wood, farming life, and history. Some of the ‘barn dogs,’ as they were called, have written to Debbie [Endersby Gwazda] telling her that Ric opened them up to history and the appreciation of historic things.”
The internship will offer students and recent graduates a hands-on introduction to public history by having them work directly alongside HSP staff on active projects.
“While specific responsibilities will be shaped by the intern’s interests and our current priorities, projects may include working with historical collections, developing educational programming, supporting oral history initiatives, and contributing to research and interpretation,” said HSP Executive Director Elizabeth Monroe. “As this is the first year of the internship, we are especially excited to create an opportunity for students to see how an interest in history can translate into a range of career paths.”
Initial funding comes from memorial gifts made to the HSP upon Endersby’s passing, and will then be sustained through the endowed designated fund created by his family at the Community Foundation. To make a gift, email its chief philanthropy officer Steven Spinner at sspinner@pacf.org or call (609) 219-1800.