Castine Scientific Society DBA Wilson Museum

“Castine Scientific Society is the holder of a conservation easement pertaining to Nautilus Island, a thirty acre island situated in Castine Harbor in east Penobscot Bay. The Organization was granted the easement by the Estate of Ellenore Doudiet on May 11, 2006. The primary purpose of the easement is to provide significant public benefit by protecting and preserving Nautilus Island in perpetuity in its substantially natural and undeveloped condition and to protect the natural habitat of the island. Castine Scientific Society, its successors and assigns are granted certain affirmative rights including access to the property for inspection, monitoring, and enforcement of the terms of the conservation easement. As the holder of the conservation easement, Castine Scientific Society has not assigned any value or reported the easement in its statement of financial position or statement of activities.”

“The collections are maintained for public exhibition, education, and research in furtherance of public service, rather than for financial gain. Collection items include prehistoric artifacts from around the world, ship models, weapons, ceramics, rocks and minerals, tools, and other farm and home equipment. In addition, the collection includes letters, diaries, ship logs, business papers, and maps. The Organization oversees the maintenance and preservation of all collection items with the presumption of permanence, care, documentation, and accessibility.In conformity with accounting policies generally followed by museums, the value of the Organization's collections are excluded from the statement of financial position and gifts of collection items are excluded from revenue in the statement of activities. During 2019, eleven contributions consisting of historical artifacts, archival books, photos, and documents were donated to the collection. Purchases of collection items, if any, are recorded separately in the statement of activities as a decrease in net assets. Artwork by H. Modesett and D. Wyman was purchased for the collection in 2019.It is the Organization's policy to describe any items given away, damaged, destroyed, lost, or otherwise de-accessed during the period. In addition, any funds realized from the sale of materials or objects deaccessioned from collections are applied to the purchase of additions to the collection or for conservation of the collections of the Organization. During 2019, no artifacts were removed from the collection.”

“The Wilson Museum exhibits, interprets, and makes available for research its collections to stimulate visitors into the exploration of natural history and cultures of the Penobscot Bay region of Maine and the world, which is the organization's mission. The heart of the Wilson Museum is the collections of physical objects and materials, and therefore, most activities revolve around their protection, interpretation, and proper use. These collections are grouped in several categories, all designed for furthering the Museum's mission. The permanent collection is the main collection of: "cultural" objects (archaeological, ethnographic, and contemporary); historic and local objects (tools and utensils, textiles, amusements, furniture, weapons, a pre-revolutionary house, archival materials, etc.); Other supporting collections include: an education collection of objects intended for handling and use in educational programs; exhibition collections which include objects used to add exhibition context; research collections which include specimens and samples that can be analyzed for research or used as reference specimens; and a lending library collection which are duplicates of archival collections for lending to staff, volunteers or visitors. The Board of Trustees has a fiduciary duty to steward the Museum's collections.”

“The intended use of the Endowment Fund is to provide the Organization with predictable and growing investment income and appreciation of principal through the prudent selection of quality investments. Specific objectives include offsetting the effects of inflation, protecting principal and providing the Organization with discretionary income necessary to help offset operating expenses while increasing the base value of the underlying endowment. Funds are distributed from the Endowment to support annual operations of the Organization based on recommendations by the Finance Committee.”