MONDAY MORNING MUSEUM UPDATE – August 26, 2024 – Lindsborg Old Mill & Swedish Heritage Museum

In this week’s update: “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” returns, photo identification workshop November 2, windmill restoration, 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 August 19-25, 2024:

- Thanks to a collaboration with the local Broadway RFD theatre company, we now know that performances of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” will be returning this October by popular request!
  Each approximately 45-minute performance will take place in stages around the historic buildings on the museum’s Heritage Square at 120 E. Mill St. in Lindsborg; and is expected to be an exciting, spooky, and “intimate” performance, as only a small audience will be able to attend each showing. (The performance content is rated PG.)
  Shows will be at 7 and 8:30 p.m. on October 10, 11, and 12, with a bonus midnight showing starting at 11:15 p.m. on Saturday, October 12.
  The suggested donation will be $10 per adult and $5 per student.
  The plan is for “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” to become a regular October Halloween tradition, but only in even-numbered years, so as not to conflict with Svensk Hyllningsfest – which is in odd-numbered years.
  Watch for information coming soon on how to reserve your tickets!
  In the meantime, for anyone who is interested in being a performer, Broadway RFD is holding auditions this week from 7 to 8 p.m. on Monday, August 26 and Tuesday, August 27 in the Burnett Center on the Bethany College campus.
- We are still just shy of the halfway point (49%) on fundraising 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 28 individuals, families, and businesses contribute to this progress to the tune of $117,300. We need about another $50,000 before the funding for the essential structural repair is secured.
  Any Kansas resident 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.
  This will be a successful initiative only if individuals, families, and organizations step forward to give under the program’s tax credit opportunity. Please carefully consider your own ability to give to this project, and to share this opportunity with your own friends and family!
- An hourlong online presentation on photo identification and preservation is planned for Saturday, November 2. Watch for more news coming soon, including registration instructions.
- The Museum Handy Crew continued work on restoring the 1908 Dempster No. 9 windmill on Heritage Square. They have now painted and restored the full support lattice structure and have painted the slats that will go onto the turbine itself. They have also started to shape and paint the tail vanes to original design specifications.
- We are working behind the scenes to transfer our museum membership records from spreadsheets to a full software platform. This will enable us to have more accurate records and more robust communication with our supporters.
- Staff has taken a number of steps toward a planned rework of the museum’s immigration exhibit. The first stages of this project are being made possible with remaining SPRINT Grant funds.
- Our next online Swedish Genealogy Workshop is scheduled for October 26 and is now open for registration HERE. The popular workshop has four sessions and runs $50 for non-members and $30 for members (look for the code in a recent email). Registration is limited to 100 attendees, so register today!
- Our next presentation in the Historical Speaker Series about Alma Swensson will be on Saturday, September 14.
  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. Registration is open now online at: www.oldmillmuseum.org/historical-speaker-series/#AlmaSwensson

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!