MONDAY MORNING MUSEUM UPDATE – December 29, 2025 – Lindsborg Old Mill & Swedish Heritage Museum

In this week’s update: Membership rates increase in 2026, last chance for Pavilion tax credits, 80% on $50K Harvest of Giving year-end campaign 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 22-28, 2025:

Adam processed 6 renewing memberships last week!
Even so, we are currently showing almost 90 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 or to secure a membership for the first time at the lower rate. Even if your membership expiration date isn’t coming up soon, if you renew before the new year, we’ll extend your membership by a year 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!
This is your LAST CHANCE to make a donation to preserve the 1904 World’s Fair Swedish Pavilion while also possibly receiving a tax credit on your Kansas tax return!
We are now in our third round of tax credits under our Community Service Program grant for the historic building!

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 Wednesday, 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)!
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. Currently, this effort is at just a little short of $40,000. We would really like to pass the $50K mark this week!
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.
We will be closed this 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!
Adam worked on restoring website service after it was down on Thursday, December 25 and the morning of Friday, December 26. There was an issue of a mismatch between the domain registration and the hosting site, which required work on the backside to get these parts of the site to communicate with each other again. Aubrey and Adam also worked together on the homepage of www.oldmillmuseum.org to help it load faster and be easier to navigate. Thank you for your patience as we made this transition!
Adam finished scanning and transcription of a hand-written fishing guide from 70 years ago that the Runbeck brothers used in helping to sell bait from the mid-1950s. Currently a few first readers are fact-checking and giving advice on the publication. Once edits from these readers come back, we will be self-publishing this booklet for sale in the museum gift shop! Watch for more news to come soon.
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.
Aubrey and Adam worked on a grant application to the Lindsborg Arts Council.
Aubrey and Lenora met with the representatives of the Kansas Infrastructure Program, which can provide assistance in identifying and applying for grant dollars.
Aubrey is working on a possible collaboration with Smoky Valley High School FFA for Millfest.
Aubrey communicated on a possible classical music workshop for May to be held in the Swedish Pavilion.
Lenora communicated with Central Kansas Trails on a potential joint grant application.
Lenora attended coffee at Sunflower Terrace in this continued community outreach opportunity.
Lenora continued working on cataloguing newly donated artifacts. She’s also working on organizing the presentation for the next Swedish Genealogy workshop planned for March 21.
Lenora continued indexing work under the museum’s agreement with ArkivDigital.
Lenora communicated with Alf Brorson, who has given us permission to digitize and upload any of his writings as part of the Historic Image Database project.
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.