MONDAY MORNING MUSEUM UPDATE – February 10, 2025

In this week’s update: Rescheduled Historical Speaker Series, Swedish Genealogy Workshop this Saturday, help the museum and get a Lenovo tablet, 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 February 3-9, 2025:

• Rescheduled: Our next presentation in the FREE online Historical Speaker Series will now be on Saturday, February 22 because of unforeseen circumstances. Karen Humphrey will speak on Alma Luise Olson – a Lindsborg resident and Bethany graduate who became a New York Times correspondent headquartered in Sweden! The presentation is open to the first 100 people to register HERE.

  

• Registration is open for the next Swedish Genealogy workshop on THIS, Saturday, February 15! We’re very excited to have a new addition this time to the featured speakers – Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective! A prominent expert in historical photography identification and preservation, she has been featured with The View, The Today Show, The Wall Street Journal, Better Homes and Gardens, Martha Stewart Living, and The New York Times.
  
• We have an opportunity to help the museum while picking up a great computer tablet for yourself!
  We recently used grant funds to purchase five Lenovo P11 (2nd gen) tablets to implement our first augmented reality tour of the 1898 Smoky Valley Roller Mills, only to discover that Lenovo sells slightly different builds of the tablet under the exact same model name. Unfortunately, that slight difference – most likely in the GPS location services – means it won’t work with the Wintor augmented reality app we’re using for the tour, and Amazon is not accepting a return of the tablets.
  This means a great opportunity for you! You can purchase one of these never-used tablets (specifications here) with charging cord and AC adapter, plus a heavy duty protective case (with hand strap, shoulder strap, and kickstand) for $265, which just represents the cost we paid for each tablet and case. This will help us to recover the grant funds and purchase different tablets that will work with the tour app.
  Contact us at oldmillmuseum@gmail.com to make arrangements for your purchase!
  
• Adam and Aubrey finished sending out direct mail letters with sponsorship information for Millfest 2025 on May 3! Watch your mailboxes! Did we miss you? No problem. Opportunities for doing YOUR part and details on how to sponsor are on the flyer below! Just get in touch at oldmillmuseum@gmail.com for more information.
       
• Perfect Blend visited the museum to set out a planned schedule for structural repairs to the Swedish Pavilion. Work will be slated to start at the end of March or early April, with the first 3-4 weeks set for attic repairs and another 4-6 weeks on exterior repair. This gives us a good possibility that repairs will be completed in time for Midsummer’s Festival in June!
• Adam processed one renewing museum membership and a $50 donation.
• Adam finalized and sent a $20,000 funding request letter.
• Adam worked on an application for a general operating funds grant through the Kansas Arts Commission.
• Aubrey worked on an grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to establish a rotating exhibit hall.
• Aubrey worked on the 2025 budget and the museum’s strategic plan.
• Aubrey purchased several items to replenish the gift shop.
• Lenora worked on organizing the historic films and tapes from the museum collection that have recently been digitized. This project is made possible thanks to a Nutt grant to the Smoky Valley Historical Association through the McPherson County Community Foundation.
• Lenora worked on several research requests and inquires last week, including: a woman from Halstead researching her great grandfather, two local individuals researching their house and property, a Swedish research request, and two people requesting research from the local newspaper.
• Lenora is working with the Kansas State Historical Society to set up a Zoom presentation on the proper handling and care of historical photographs that will be free and open to the public. They’re planning on a date in March.
• 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 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.
    

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