MONDAY MORNING MUSEUM UPDATE – October 14, 2024 – Lindsborg Old Mill & Swedish Heritage Museum

In this week’s update: “Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” Historical Speaker Series, year-end match donors needed, 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 7-13, 2024:

- “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” – performed on the museum’s Heritage Square – was Thursday through Saturday last week and performed to sold-out shows!
  This was a wonderful return and revival of a Lindsborg tradition presented in partnership with local theatre company Broadway RFD. (It even got some fan art! See below.)
  The plan is for the show to return in even-numbered years in October, so watch for the show to come back in October 2026!
  The spooky classic story by Washington Irving was presented in a progressive roving theatre style in which the audience moves with the actors from scene to scene around the Heritage Square. It also featured a live horse and rider depicting the ride of the Headless Horseman!
  Museum staff and many volunteers with both the museum and Broadway RFD helped to make this returning tradition to be a huge success!
- We are at 57% 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 34 individuals, families, and businesses commit to contribute to this progress to the tune of $137,634.25. We need about another $25,000 before the funding for the essential structural repair is secured.
  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.
  Last week, Adam completed the quarterly report required for the tax credits grant.
- The most recent subject in the Historical Speaker Series was Henry Lungstrom last Saturday, which attracted more than a dozen attendees. A recording of the presentation will be available soon on the series registration page at www.oldmillmuseum.org/historical-speaker-series.
  The next presentation in the series will be Saturday, November 9 on the topic of Swedish Churches of the Smoky Valley 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.
- 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!
- “Old Family Photos: Trash or Treasure?” is an hourlong online presentation on photo identification and preservation planned for Saturday, November 2. Registration is $10 or free with code for museum members. Register at the museum gift shop HERE.
- Aubrey and Lenora successfully made a request for a partial year-end match campaign donor. We still need several more large year-end match donors to step forward to meet our 2025 annual budget needs. Please CONTACT US if you’d like to help with a major donation in this way.
- Aubrey is working on the necessary steps to properly handle Native American artifacts in the museum collection.
- New items are coming soon to the museum gift shop in preparation for the holiday season. Watch for wheat weavings and wood items made from boards from the Old Mill’s scale house coming to the online gift shop soon.
- Lenora updated her Swedish Pavilion presentation and was the featured speaker for the Wichita Scandinavian Society.
- The museum received its next disbursement from the SPRINT grant, allowing progress on several important restoration projects.
- Tyler made copies from the archives of the Bethany Messenger last week about Svensk Hyllningsfest as part of the Hyllningsfest preservation project funded by Humanities Kansas.
- Adam processed five renewing memberships. Total current active membership is 164.
- Adam followed up on several grant application requests.
- Adam processed several online gift shop orders.
- The campgrounds pit toilets were pumped out last week by Salina Septic.
- Repairs were made to an exterior flood light in front of the livery stable on Heritage Square last week.
- 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!