MONDAY MORNING MUSEUM UPDATE – December 9, 2024 – Lindsborg Old Mill & Swedish Heritage Museum

In this week’s update: Heritage Christmas is Saturday, 61% on Museum Match Challenge, $615.75 until Swedish Pavilion structural repair, 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 December 2-8, 2024:

- It’s THIS Saturday! Heritage Christmas 2024 will be 5:30 – 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 14. Learn more and make your plans to attend this cozy holiday tradition!
- Our 2024 year-end “Harvest of Giving” Fundraising Campaign continues with a $5,000 Museum Match (doubles all new and renewing memberships as well as one-time donations made between now and the end of the year). Currently we’ve secured $3,030 – or 61% – of the match. Help us to make sure we don’t let any part of this generous challenge slip by!
  You can also help the museum by donating to the Save the Pavilion campaign and Millfest Sponsorships. Please take a moment to learn more about each of these options and to decide what ways of supporting the museum are right for you!
- Our campaign to save the Swedish Pavilion under the Community Service Program (CSP) Tax Credits through the Kansas Department of Commerce is just INCHES from accomplishing a critical milestone!
  With 43 individuals, families, and businesses committed to contribute to the project, we have now used 63% of the grant, and $150,884.25 secured. This means we just need $615.75 before the funding for the essential structural repair is in the bank! Will YOU be the one to put us over the top on this important goal? We’d love to be able to announce meeting the structural repair milestone at Heritage Christmas this Saturday!
  This is a great time of year to consider making a donation under the program as the end of the calendar tax year approaches!
  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 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 (so even after we pass the milestone of having the money for Pavilion repairs, we will still have a ways to go to fully take advantage of the tax credits program.)

- 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.
- Adam processed 17 (!) renewing memberships. Total current active membership is 166. You can become a member today at www.oldmillmuseum.org/members. (And right now through the end of the year, that contribution can be DOUBLED thanks to an anonymous donor!)
- Aubrey was a career speaker at Smoky Valley High School last week.
- Aubrey toured the Bethany College Campus and met with a history professor about possible partnerships.
- Aubrey is continuing on finalizing the museum’s five-year strategic plan and updating the museum’s disaster and emergency policy.
- Adam wrote and sent a news release about Heritage Christmas.
- Adam wrote an sent a letter of inquiry requesting $20,000 from a charitable trust.
- Adam received and processed four online gift shop orders.
- Tyler continued working on uploading images to the museum’s Historic Image Database project.
- Lenora is working on plans to extend the Historical Speaker Series beyond its current run through March.
- Lenora assisted a couple from California with genealogy research last Wednesday.
- Lenora continued working through record-keeping on artifact donations to the museum.
- 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!