MONDAY MORNING MUSEUM UPDATE – November 4, 2024 – Lindsborg Old Mill & Swedish Heritage Museum

In this week’s update: Starry, Starry Night; Swedish Churches of Southern Saline County; Match Month; and more!

In our weekly update, keep up to date on what staff and volunteers at the Lindsborg Old Mill & Swedish Heritage Museum are working on to lift up the history of Lindsborg and the surrounding region. This weekly update both looks back at what happened last week and looks ahead at what’s coming.

For October 28 – November 3, 2024:

- “Starry, Starry Night” is back for its second year in Lindsborg on THIS Saturday, November 9!
  
  While the main event is stargazing on top of Coronado Heights with staff from the Cosmosphere, you won’t want to miss what we also have in store for you here at the Lindsborg Museum at 120 E. Mill St!
  
  The Salina Astronomy Club will be providing additional telescope viewing on the museum’s (darkened) Heritage Square lawn as well as talks on the following topics in the main museum building:
  
  6 p.m., Constellation Identification; Speaker: Dorothy Hanna, SAC President
  
  6:30 p.m., Nucleosynthesis – The origin of the elements that make up the observable Universe and us; Speaker: David Hanson, SAC member
  
  7 p.m., Basic Observing Equipment, selection and techniques – Naked eye, Binoculars, and telescopes; Speaker: Jeffrey Kasoff, SAC Secretary
  
  7:30 p.m., Celestial Nova Events – How the changeable night sky intrigues scientists, amateur astronomers, and the general public; Speaker: Jeffrey Kasoff
  
  All these talks and stargazing on Heritage Square are free and open to the public!
  
  Read about all the events and activities happening with Starry, Starry Night HERE.
  
  See you there!
- The next presentation in the Historical Speaker Series will be THIS Saturday, November 9 on the topic of Swedish Churches of Southern Saline County and registration for the FREE presentation is open now at www.oldmillmuseum.org/historical-speaker-series/#Churches.
  The Historic Speaker Series is a set of online talks in partnership with the Smoky Valley Historical Association featuring great historical figures in Lindsborg and Smoky Valley History.
  Registration is completely FREE to the first 100 to sign up and is made possible with a grant from Humanities Kansas.
- Power Construction has made great progress on the ADA compliant sidewalk up to the main entrance of the museum! It’s currently on pause from the rainy weather, but will start up again when the ground dries out again. This is a great step toward ensuring everyone can access the museum without barriers. This addition is being paid for with funds from the SPRINT Grant the museum received from Kansas Commerce.
- With a new contribution last week, we are at 59% on fundraising commitments under the Community Service Program (CSP) Tax Credits through the Kansas Department of Commerce. Read about all the latest here and let us know how much you are interested in contributing: www.oldmillmillmuseum.org/save-the-pavilion!
  We’ve had 36 individuals, families, and businesses commit to contribute to this progress to the tune of $141,634.25. We need about another $20,000 before the funding for the essential structural repair is secured.
  This is a great time of year to consider making a donation under the program as the end of the calendar tax year approaches!
  Any Kansas resident (or out-of-state resident who files a Kansas income tax return) can qualify to receive back a 70% fully refundable tax credit on their Kansas return with a donation of $250 or more to the project! The available tax credits will be used to enhance fundraising efforts for the Pavilion Restoration & Improvement Project. The credits are expected to raise $238,000 in donations, which will fully cover critical stabilization repairs to prevent collapse of the historic structure and will partially cover installation of a new, more historically accurate roof.
- Our November newsletter went out last week! You can check it out for yourself at www.oldmillmuseum.org/newsletter.
- We are participating with Match Month kicking off Saturday, November 9 with the Smoky Valley Community Foundation. Donations will be DOUBLED! Watch for more details coming soon about how to contribute under the match!
- “Old Family Photos: Trash or Treasure?” was held last Saturday, November 2 with about 25 registered for the online workshop.
- We have a great new partnership with the Red Barn Studio that started last week. They will have the opportunity to scan their photo collection using our equipment, and we will be able to keep a digital copy of each scanned photo for our collection as well!
  - Aubrey returned two artifacts to the Hillboro Museum.
  - Aubrey is conducting a “Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats” analysis on the museum.
  - Adam processed online gift shop orders and one renewing membership. Total current active membership is 165.
  - Adam finished a draft flyer handout for supporting Millfest 2025 with sponsorship.
  - Staff met with the museum’s fundraising consultants on Friday.
  - Lenora worked on doing inventory of the collection of the museum’s tapes and DVDs.
  - Lenora helped visitors from Maryland this week with research on their family history.
  - Visitors from Tennessee made a large donation of historical photos to the museum this week. THANK YOU!
  - NOW OPEN: “Skeleton-Of-Dog… Selected Geology & Natural History Artifacts from the Bethany College Collection Archives” is a temporary mini-exhibit at the museum featuring some unique artifacts not seen in public for decades!
  - Our Endowment Campaign 2025 is ongoing to add $1 million to our endowment in supporting our annual operational budget to make sure that not only do we preserve these historical treasures, but we can also “keep the lights on.” Read more on the flyer and giving form below, or visit to www.oldmillmuseum.org/donations to learn more!