TUESDAY MORNING MUSEUM UPDATE – January 21, 2025

Monday Update / By

In this week’s update: Swensson reenactment video recording, historic media digitization, 2025 planning, 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 January 13-20, 2025:

          • About 20 people came out on Sunday, January 19 for a reenactment presentation of early Lindsborg founding figure Rev. Carl Aaron Swensson This was a part of the Historical Speaker Series in partnership with the Smoky Valley Historical Association and was the museum’s featured event of the Lindsborg Arts Council’s “Lindsborg Cultural Crawl.” The presentation was recorded and you can watch it at your convenience at the museum’s YouTube page!
        • Thanks to a Nutt grant through the McPherson County Community Foundation, we are progressing on digitizing the museum’s historical visual and audio collection. These are going to be posted each week as part of our “Flashback Friday” series on the museum’s YouTube page and on social media! Take some time to watch and listen to this interesting and engaging historic multimedia – you won’t regret it!
        • The McPherson County Community Foundation did an awesome Grant Spotlight article on this Historic Media Digitization project!
        • Our Historic Image Database continues to grow! We now have 7,300 images uploaded in the collection, drawing nearly a quarter million views!
        • We were closed on Monday in recognition of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
        • Our progress has been good for our campaign to save the 1904 World’s Fair Swedish Pavilion under the Community Service Program (CSP) Tax Credits through the Kansas Department of Commerce! With $178,451.40 donated to the project and in the bank, we now have the necessary funds for the essential structural repair to the 120-year old historical structure and a start of $26,951.40 toward repairing the museum’s roof!
          We expect the structural repairs to be completed in Spring 2025.
          With 48 individuals, families, and businesses contributing to the project, we have used 75% of the grant, which means we still have remaining donation capacity of $60,689.75 under the CSP Grant (note that previous donors in 2024 can also give again for the 2025 tax year and still be eligible for credits).
          (Check out the time lapse video of Adam updating our progress chart in the video below.)
          With the structural repair funds secured, we now turn our focus to the “Raise the Roof” portion of the campaign to repair the 30-year old, leaking roof of the Pavilion in a more historic way. The remaining portion on the CSP grant will constitute a great running start on this next important milestone of preserving the Swedish Pavilion.
          Read about all the latest here and let us know how much you are interested in contributing: www.oldmillmillmuseum.org/save-the-pavilion!
          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 total in donations, which fully covers critical stabilization repairs to prevent collapse of the historic structure and will partially cover installation of a new, more historically accurate roof. There is still much to accomplish to fully take advantage of the tax credits program.)
      • Aubrey submitted the Legacy Nutt Grant application to the McPherson County Community Foundation last week.
      • Aubrey worked on the museum’s budget and strategic plan.
      • Staff members met with potential Millfest sponsors and significant museum donors last week.
      • Adam worked on clearing remaining ice and snow from walkways.
      • Adam processed one renewing membership and sent out reminder letters for memberships coming due in February.
      • Adam sent in regular grant update reports.
      • Adam inquired on copyright permissions to publish two films that were recently digitized as part of the historic preservation project.
      • Adam arranged paid sponsorship with Radio Kansas to promote Millfest 2025.
      • With Aubrey now on board and the new year started, Lenora has moved to part-time status on the museum staff as of last week.
      • Lenora responded to research requests last week – including two people looking cemetery information and the Galva Museum with two different requests. Lenora is also working with a man from Florida who is working on a project to collect and document the different logos used by photographer B.G. Grondal as a method of placing photographs in a particular date range. The images in the Historic Image Database will be key to this initiative.
      • 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!
           
        • We have now opened registration for “Are YOU the Family Archivist? (What to Do With ALL That Family Stuff?!)” – a fantastic hourlong presentation by Sue Schlichting of Pursuing YOUR Past. The session is scheduled for Saturday, February 1 and is just $10 for non-members or FREE for museum members!
        • Registration is open for the next Swedish Genealogy workshop on February 15, 2025! We’re very excited to have a new addition this time to the featured speakers – Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective!
        • We have started to take reservations for Millfest for Kids on Friday, May 2! Get in touch if your school or homeschool group would like to participate. Aubrey emailed potential participating schools and demonstrators for MFK 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!

      Thank you to our museum volunteers!
      Last week, this included Les Sperling, Jerry Hammerton, Karmon Almquist, Leland Nelson, Betty Amos, and Julie Ann Neywick.