(May 2006) GETTYSBURG, Pa. - The Friends of the National Parks at Gettysburg and the Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum Foundation will officially merge on June 30 and become the Gettysburg Foundation.

They have already started to merge their operations, which will see Foundation President Robert C. Wilburn as president and chief executive officer of the new foundation. Robert Kinsley, president of the Museum Foundation board, will lead the combined board with Barbara J. Finfrock, current Friends chair, as vice chair, according to Elliot Gruber, vice president for external affairs.

A press release said the new private, nonprofit educational organization will continue to work in partnership with the National Park Service to "enhance preservation and understanding of the heritage and lasting significance of Gettysburg."

The Museum Foundation is relocating its offices to a house at 1195 Baltimore Pike over the last weekend in April. Gruber said the house near the visitor center and museum entrance will be used for offices until the new facility opens and it is removed.

The Friends' headquarters at the Rupp House at 451 Baltimore St. a mile away will continue to house offices as well as exhibits. Gruber said there is no redundancy in staff, so the integration of the two staffs into one will not eliminate any jobs.

Gruber called the merger a "wonderful opportunity." Citing the 1999 merger of the Civil War Trust and Association for the Preservation for Civil War Sites into the Civil War Preservation Trust, he foresees that people will look back at the Gettysburg merger as similarly successful.

The Museum Foundation and Friends list their combined strengths, including "thousands of volunteers, a variety of on- and off-site educational programs, a successful track record of fundraising at the five-, six- and seven-figure level among corporate, foundation and individual donors, and an established grassroots fundraising network."

Gruber said that fundraising for the capital program and Friends' programs will be integrated. While initial focus has to be on the battlefield park, he said the Eisenhower National Historic Site component of the national park won't be ignored.

Since its founding in 1989 the Friends group has donated more than $6 million in goods and services, including land and monument preservation, cannon restoration, education, battlefield rehabilitation and museum artifacts. The group has 25,000 members, according to a press release.

The Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum Foundation was established in 1998 to raise the funds to build a new museum and visitor center. The project includes preserving the park's artifacts collection, conserving the Gettysburg Cyclorama painting, removing the Cyclorama Center and present visitor center and restoring the Union battle line on Cemetery Ridge to its 1863 appearance.

Wilburn, who has been president of the Museum Foundation since October 2000, said the new foundation will enhance and expand existing programs and create new ones. He and Friends board chair Finfrock both speak of wanting to involve more people in programs and activities.

"To succeed, we must connect with our visitors, both on- and off-site. We have to do more than preserve the past," Wilburn said in a statement. "We also must find ways to use the memorials - the battlefields, the monuments and the artifacts - to excite and inspire and spark a desire to know more." Finfrock, noting that the Friends' mission is to "honor, support, protect and

enhance the resources associated with Gettysburg and its National Parks," said the merger will allow the Friends to meet that commitment and "expand our support to the Parks while at the same time enhancing opportunities for our members."

She called the merger, "absolutely the best step we could take to ensure that Gettysburg and its valuable lessons and resources are preserved for future generations."

Park Superintendent John Latschar endorsed the merger, saying, "I look forward to many more years of rolling up our sleeves together to build fences, protect the land, preserve monuments, teach the young, raise awareness and all of those things we have done so well."

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