Historical society sells artifacts to survive

Call it a high-end garage sale, or a fabulous rent party: the New Jersey Historical Society is auctioning off prime artifacts from its collection to help pay the bills. You don’t have to be a historian to gasp at the $2.1 million sale last month of an extremely rare 1784 map of the United States. It had been in the historical society’s possession since 1862. No more. Other items will go on the auction block soon, including oil paintings, silverware and 18th-century furniture.

Something is dreadfully wrong when an institution cannibalizes itself to survive. It’s fair to ask whether the society correctly managed its meager resources over the years, and whether corporate and other donors could have been more generous, too....