The object of the Society - which was founded already in 1804 - is "to discover, procure, and preserve whatever may relate to the natural, civil, literary, and ecclesiastical history of the United States in general, and of this State in particular. [...] After years of successful service to the New York community, financial woes [...] began to dog the Society in the 1970s and 1980s. Many valiant efforts were made to insure proper care and accessibility of collections, but in the early 1990s the Society all but closed its doors to the public, shutting down its exhibitions and allowing researchers only minimal access to the library. In 1995, through grants from the city and state, the doors of a renovated building were reopened to the public under the direction of Betsy Gotbaum, former parks Commissioner of New York City. Under Gotbaum, a plan to deaccession out-of-scope items from the collections was implemented, raising nearly $20 million dollars toward the depleted endowment. Since then, the Society has gradually increased public access and stabilized its finances. The exhibition program has expanded annually; thousands of school children take part in innovative educational programs and family events each year; concerts, talks and theater are offered in the auditorium. Perhaps, most significant of all, through the generosity of the Andrew Mellon Foundation and the Henry Luce Foundation, all the Society's collections are currently being catalogued online."