In this week’s update: Match Week donation opportunity this week, Swedish Genealogy Workshop Save-the-Date, Two tablets left for purchase, 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 February 24 – March 2, 2025:
- It’s Match Week through the McPherson County Community Foundation!
This is a wonderful way to support the Lindsborg Museum (and more than 50 other charitable causes in the county) and have your dollars stretch further!The link to donate to the Museum March 3-7 is HERE.A match of up to $110,000 is available for participating organizations, thanks to the Community ‘Dream’ Fund and a gift from the Gaeddert Family Fund. This will mark the 12th year of MCCF’s matching event, which helps nonprofits build their endowments. A total of $610,023 was raised for all participating organizations during the event last year.Matching funds are awarded proportionally to the total donations received during the week. Each organization is eligible to receive up to 20% of the match. For example, if an organization receives 20% of the total donations toward its endowment, it will receive 20% of the match to use for immediate needs.In addition to the online portal, donations to the museum endowment can also be made in person to the MCCF office or my mail. Full details are HERE.
- We had a dozen attendees at last Saturday’s workshop “We’re All Different: Understanding Neurodiversity” in partnership with Square Holes and sponsored by Lindsborg Masonic Lodge #397! Thank you to everyone came!
- SAVE THE DATE! The next online Swedish Genealogy Workshop will be on Saturday, June 7! Details and registration will be coming soon!
- We have an opportunity to help the museum while picking up a great computer tablet for yourself! THREE of these have already been sold; get one of the TWO remaining before they sell out!
We recently used grant funds to purchase five Lenovo P11 (2nd gen) tablets to implement our first augmented reality tour of the 1898 Smoky Valley Roller Mills, only to discover that Lenovo sells slightly different builds of the tablet under the exact same model name. Unfortunately, that slight difference – most likely in the GPS location services – means it won’t work with the Wintor augmented reality app we’re using for the tour, and Amazon is not accepting a return of the tablets.
This means a great opportunity for you! You can purchase one of these never-used tablets (specifications here) with charging cord and AC adapter, plus a heavy duty protective case (with hand strap, shoulder strap, and kickstand) for $265, which just represents the cost we paid for each tablet and case. This will help us to recover the grant funds and purchase different tablets that will work with the tour app.
Contact us at oldmillmuseum@gmail.com to make arrangements for your purchase!
- We have available now sponsorship opportunities for Millfest 2025 on May 3! Details for doing YOUR part and details on how to sponsor are on the flyer below! Just get in touch at oldmillmuseum@gmail.com for more information. ADDITIONAL MILLFEST NEWS: We will be partnering with the International Harvester Collection Club for the first-ever Millfest Tractor Show!
- Adam finished and submitted the application for general operations funding through the Kansas Arts Commission for 2025-2026.
- Adam designed and submitted the advertisement for the Kansas Section in the Midwest Travel Guide of USA Today. Watch for it coming at the end of April/beginning of May.
- Tyler and Lenora continued working on Svensk Hyllningsfest project, continuing to upload scanned images to Flickr. There are now nearly 7,500 images preserved, garnering more than 303,000 all-time views across the collection!
- Adam worked on writing and designing the 2024 annual report.
- Aubrey continued working on a grant to the Mellon Foundation.
- Aubrey worked on promotion and preparation for Millfest on May 3.
- All staff worked on responding to questions to be included in an article in Cherry Road Media’s “Progress Magazine” special section.
- Lenora fulfilled two research requests for archival records.
- Lenora has continued working on an indexing project under contract with ArkivDigital.
- If you haven’t yet “Liked” us on Facebook, can you take a moment to do so? We’d like to break 3,000 followers before springtime! (Currently our followers are at 2,696.) This kind of small action really does make a difference for our public visibility!
- Need a great gift for the genealogist or history enthusiast in your life? NEW in the museum gift shop, you can now purchase a gift certificate good for a free registration to one of the museum’s Online Swedish Genealogy Workshops anytime in 2025 ($50) or a 2025 Pursuing YOUR Past presentation ($10). Your gift recipient will receive a one-time-use code by email or mail good to pay for the registration fee for one of these popular sessions!
Thank you to our museum volunteers!
Last week, this included Leland Nelson, Karmon Almquist, Jerry Hammerton, Mike Koch, Betty Amos, Ava Toll, and Julie Ann Neywick.