In this week’s update: Heritage Christmas last weekend, Museum Membership Match campaign progress, Museum Messenger newsletter, 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 4-11, 2023:
- Thank you for everyone who came out for Heritage Christmas last Saturday evening; we had a wonderful time as a museum community and extended family! About 450 people came to celebrate the season, and thanks to your generosity about $1,700 went to the museum to help cover the event from donations at the gate, gift shop sales, and visitors earlier in the day.
Very special thanks to to Les Sperling, Mike Koch, Jerry Hammerton, Karmon Almquist, and Kathy Peterson who as the Museum Handy Crew put in many hours of valuable work helping to prepare the grounds and buildings with Christmas decorations for the holidays!
- We have a year-end $50,000 Museum Membership Match Challenge! So far, about TWO-FIFTHS of the match campaign has been met.
Right now anyone who buys a 2024 Lindsborg Museum membership will also secure a bonus to the museum worth three times the amount of the membership. It’s a perfect way to make donation dollars stretch farther this holiday season. With a generous challenge pledge of $50,000 from Julie-Ann Neywick – longtime museum supporter and volunteer – she will triple match any individual, family, and business memberships purchased between now and 5 p.m. Central Time on December 31.
The terms of the challenge mean that a $40 individual membership brings the museum another $120, a $60 family membership secures another $180, and getting a $125 business membership (which also grants membership benefits for up to 10 employees) will impressively secure an additional $375!
So far, there has been $4,590 from memberships, another $1,695 extra in one-time donations (which will help to fund more than 100 memberships for in-need families), and 38% of the $50,000 Match Challenge has been secured!
To become a member today, visit www.oldmillmuseum.org/members to purchase online (NOW with the option to purchase a gift membership) or send a check to PO Box 94, Lindsborg, KS 67456 (including with the check the level of membership being purchased, email address, mailing address, full name, phone number, and indicating whether the museum’s biannual newsletter should be sent by email, mail, or both). Memberships can also be purchased with a credit or debit card over the phone by calling 785-227-3595 or in person at the museum at 120 E. Mill St., Lindsborg, Kansas, during museum hours of 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday – Saturday.
Learn more about the match challenge HERE.
- Mark your calendars: We have two upcoming genealogy workshops. First, the next all-day Swedish Genealogy Workshop will be on February 3. A shorter beginner German Genealogy Workshop is scheduled for February 17. Pages to register for both will be available soon on this website.
- Our Historic Image Database project continues to grow with now more than 1,750 photos available and more than 64,000 views. See the project as it develops at www.oldmillmuseum.org/historic-image-database.
- The latest edition of the Museum Messenger newsletter is now available online at www.oldmillmuseum.org/newsletter. Check out this great summary of the latest museum news across the last few months.
- Lenora and Adam were in Topeka on Monday, December 11 for a strategic planning session (which is why this weekly update is coming to you on a Tuesday this time. Apologies for the delay!)
- We have officially kicked off our Endowment Campaign 2025 to add $1 million to our endowment in supporting our annual operational budget to make sure that not only do we preserve these historical treasures, but we can also “keep the lights on.” Read more on the flyer and giving form below, or visit to www.oldmillmuseum.org/donations to learn more!
