Remember Wayland
What it Means to Remember Wayland
A planned gift to the Wayland Museum & Historical Society is a way of saying: this matters. The stories matter. The house matters. The collections matter. The people of Wayland — all of them, across all the years — matter.
A bequest or planned gift costs you nothing today. It asks only that you speak with your attorney and add a sentence to your estate plan. Gifts of any size make a difference. Every gift is honored.
When you include WHS in your estate plans, you join a community of people who have looked at this town and its history and decided: I want this to last.
Leila’s Story
In 1849, a minister in Wayland sat down and wrote a carol about peace, justice, and the hope that the world might yet become what it was meant to be. That minister was Edmund Hamilton Sears. The carol was “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.” It is sung around the world every Christmas. And the handwritten manuscript — in Sears’s own hand — is held in the collections of the Wayland Museum & Historical Society.
Decades later, Leila Sears — Edmund’s descendant, a Wayland native, a Navy codebreaker who helped win World War II, and a two-decade servant of this town as its elected clerk — quietly remembered the Wayland Historical Society in her will.
She didn’t announce it. She didn’t ask for recognition. She simply believed that this place, and the stories it holds, were worth preserving for the people who would come after her.
Her gift, along with the generosity of others like her, built the endowment that sustains this organization today.
How to Make a Planned Gift
The most common form of planned gift is a bequest through your will or living trust. Other options include naming WHS as a beneficiary of an IRA, life insurance policy, or other financial account. We welcome any form of planned gift and are happy to work with you and your advisors.
Sample Bequest Language
Your attorney can use this language to include WHS in your will or trust: “I give and bequeath to the Wayland Historical Society, a nonprofit organization located in Wayland, Massachusetts (Federal Tax ID: 04-6112780), [the sum of $_____ / _____% of my estate / the residue of my estate] to be used for its general charitable purposes.”
If you wish to direct your gift to a specific purpose — collections care, building preservation, or education programs — please contact us so we can ensure your intentions are honored.
Let Us Know
If you have already included WHS in your estate plans, or if you are considering doing so, we would love to know. There is no obligation — but hearing from you allows us to thank you personally during your lifetime and to understand the full picture of support our community has offered.
All conversations are confidential. Please reach out whenever you are ready.
Ready to take the next step?
We would be honored to speak with you. Please reach out at any time: info@waylandmuseum.org
For Your Attorney
Legal Name Wayland Historical Society
Address 12 Cochituate Road, P.O. Box 56, Wayland, MA 01778
Federal Tax ID 04-6112780
Organization Type 501(c)(3) nonprofit — gifts are tax deductible
Phone / Email 508-358-7959 | info@waylandmuseum.org