MONDAY MORNING MUSEUM UPDATE – December 22, 2025 – Lindsborg Old Mill & Swedish Heritage Museum

In this week’s update: Holiday hours, more than $12,000 in recent fundraising success, renew membership before rates go up January 1, upgraded website server, and more!

In this 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 and looks ahead at what’s coming.

For December 15-21, 2025:

We want our museum friends and community to know our upcoming schedule for when we are closed for holidays this week and next. We will be closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas this week, December 24 and 25. (But we will be open normal hours on Friday, December 26, and Saturday, December 27.) We will also be closed next week on Thursday, January 1, for New Year’s Day. We look forward to seeing you on our open days and in the New Year!
We want to share the successful results of two recent fundraising efforts! First, we raised nearly $1,000 from Heritage Christmas donations at the gates. Our attendance was strong despite the frigid temperatures, and the strong donation numbers also reflect this. Thank you!
Second, the 2025 Match Month opportunity with the Smoky Valley Community Foundation drew $11,570.94 for the museum endowment! There will also be match funds on top of this amazing total going to our community foundation account and will provide long-term support to the museum budget! Thank you!
Our major focus now through the end of the year is the critical Harvest of Giving 2025 fundraising event. Our topline goal is $50,000 in unrestricted donations to keep the museum lights on and the doors open in 2026. In the space of four years, a major source of public funding has gone from covering half of our annual expenses to less than 8%. Because of this, it is more important than ever for generous private donors, businesses, and organizations to step in and ensure that the rare experiences at the Museum continue to be available in 2026. Learn more and make your charitable donation today at www.oldmillmuseum.org/harvest-of-giving.
Adam processed 3 renewing and one new museum membership last week!
Even so, we are currently showing almost 80 recent membership supporters who are overdue on renewing.
Have you renewed your museum membership? (Are you sure?)
Because all membership levels will be going up by $10 on January 1, this is the perfect time to extend your membership by a year – even if the expiration date isn’t coming up soon – or to secure a membership for the first time at the lower rate.
(The new rates starting next year will be $50 for an individual membership, $70 for a family membership, or $135 for a business membership.)
Memberships are a critical source of reliable support for the museum!
Give us a call at 785-227-3595 or email at oldmillmuseum@gmail.com and we will be glad to check on your status. It’s also a great time to think about becoming a new member if you’ve never been one before, or to purchase a gift membership for someone special in your life! See www.oldmillmuseum.org/members for details!
Adam worked on upgrading our website server hosting plan to one that can better handle our increased site traffic and our online gift shop. This should result in faster loading speeds and less “Service Unavailable” website downtime messages. Thank you for your patience as we made this transition!
We are now in our third round of tax credits under our Community Service Program grant, going to repair the 1904 World’s Fair Swedish Pavilion!

Under this program, we have remaining $7,500 in donation capacity to “Raise the Roof” with a more durable and historically accurate roof on the historic 121-year-old structure.

What’s more, qualified taxpayers who give at least $250 and who file a Kansas state tax return can get 70% of their donation BACK as a fully refundable tax credit!

Don’t let the opportunity pass you by! Donations must be made by December 31 to qualify! Call us at 785-227-3595 or email at oldmillmuseum@gmail.com for more details.

Overall, this opportunity has raised $257,931.15 for repairs and improvements to the Pavilion.
Contributions under the grant paid for critical structural repairs (costing $151,500), allowing us to safely reopen the Pavilion to the public in summer 2025. We are also more than halfway toward the funds we will need under the “Raise the Roof” campaign to repair the Pavilion’s roof in a more durable and historically accurate way, with $106,431.15 going to the roof phase of the project.
If you would like to help with Raise the Roof, you can learn more at www.oldmillmuseum.org/raise-the-roof.
We have several recognition reward levels available: These include recognition on our website and an invitation to a special VIP event once all of the funds needed for the roof (at $100 or more) and opportunities to have a “roof tile” with custom wording added to a permanent honor wall (at $1,000 or more)!
Sponsorship opportunities for Millfest 2026 are now open and available! Already we have had $2,850 in event sponsorship dollars come in!
Scheduled next year for Saturday, May 2, this is the one time annually that our visitors can take guided tours of the 1898 Old Mill IN OPERATION! The festival also includes, music, entertainment, arts & crafts, antique tractor show, games, demonstrations and face painting!
Giving levels to sponsor run from as little as $25 to get your name in the program to $5,000 or more to secure topline “Brought to you by…” overall event sponsorship. You can also choose to direct your donation to specific Millfest attractions, including face painting, tractor show, Old Mill tours, or music performances! See full details including how to arrange your sponsorship with the forms included below.
(Staff sent Thank You donation receipts to donors from last week. Aubrey also worked on planning the antique tractor show.)
Adam worked on scanning and transcription of a hand-written fishing guide from 70 years ago that the Runbeck Brothers – the last owners of the Old Mill in the 1950s – used to sell bait to fishers on the Smoky Hill River during the last years of mill operation as a business. The museum plans to self-publish this in-house for sale in the gift shop!
Sunflower Food Company has sent us the next round of a historic flour mix in development. Staff are currently taste-testing this latest round of mix.
Aubrey attended a meeting on NAGPRA regulations.
Aubrey worked on a draft 2026 budget.
Aubrey met with the museum’s grant-writing consultant to review recent work and plan for 2026.
Aubrey met with a potential Pavilion roof bidder.
Aubrey met with a Bethany College history professor to plan a spring 2026 collaboration.
Aubrey worked on the Smithsonian Democracy in Dialogue program set for next year.
Aubrey worked on the second draft of a grant application to the Lindsborg Arts Council.
Adam updated the events areas of the website and social media sites. He also added the Beginning Swedish Workshop registration onto the gift shop for purchase.
Lenora was on holiday vacation last week.
Adam worked on the winter newsletter for publication coming soon.
We are excited to offer the first “Discover Your Past” Virtual Genealogy Workshop, set for Saturday, January 31, 2026!
Rather than the usual focus on Swedish genealogy research resources, this time the sessions will be able to apply to ANY genealogy or family research, regardless of country background! Museum members register with a $20 discount. We hope you can join us!
We also recently added a half-day Beginning Swedish Workshop for February 21, 2026. It will cost $20 or just $10 for members.
Tyler continued working on scanning historic publications.