BEYOND A ROOF REPAIR In 1884 , William Albert Slater , the son of a wealthy Norwich industrialist , offered to memorialize his father , John Fox Slater , with a new building on the campus of Norwich Free Academy . And , for more than a century , the Slater Memorial Museum has done that and so much more , including serving as an incomparable educational resource for NFA and our community . As work gets underway to replace the structure ’ s original slate roof , additional work is taking place inside - designed to refresh the museum experience while not wavering from its original mission and ideals .