With funding sources mostly secured, the Dowagiac Area History Museum is enlisting help from the public to get a new expansion project over the finish line.
The museum is seeking to add a Collections Storage Addition to the current facility, 201 E. Division Street in Dowagiac, with a goal of completing the addition by the end of 2023.
The fundraising goal is $80,000 on the $200,000 project with additional funding coming from two other sources. The museum has $50,000 committed from its members and is looking for the additional $30,000 to meet its goal.
“We have been raising funds from the museum’s members for the past five months and we now feel that the time is right to take the campaign public,” said Museum Director Steve Arseneau,
When the museum moved from Southwestern Michigan College about 10 years ago, the college maintained the storage room at the former museum on campus to house the 25,000 object collection not on display. Arseneau said the college now needs the space for other needs and the city-run museum decided a Collections Storage Addition was the best solution.
“We explored several options, including rehabilitating an existing building in the city,” said City Manager Kevin Anderson. “Ultimately, we determined that the best long-term solution for the collection and financially was to make an addition to the museum.”
Arseneau says there are three benefits to housing the collection on-site:
- Researchers will have better access to the documents, ledger books and other records
- Museum staff and volunteers will be able to better monitor the storage conditions and prevent damage to the artifacts
- The off-site storage situation has presented logistical problems for the small staff and volunteers to regularly rotate exhibits. With the collection on-site, they will be able to rotate artifacts in the permanent exhibits and create more temporary exhibits.
The other funding sources for the addition are the City of Dowagiac and an auction that will be held on July 29 at SMC with auctioneer Steve Stanton. The auction will feature about 2,000 items donated before the year 2000 that are either duplicates in the collection or objects that do not meet the local history mission of the museum.
“Going through the collection in preparation for the future move, I found there were many collections acquired over the decades for specific exhibits that have no local provenance,” Aresneau said.
He cites two examples: a large collection of wood planes and other carpenters’ tools that were not locally used or made and a collection of 800 circus posters and programs without any local connection. The auction will even include some duplicate items, including Round Oak stoves, calendars, trade cards and other advertising. The museum will release more information on the auction as the event draws near.
“We are excited about this project and how it will benefit the community,” Arseneau said. “Having the collection on-site will enable us to offer more exhibits and provide better oversight of the community’s historic artifacts. Between this project and the long-term investments through the Gateway Foundation by the Lyons family, the museum will be a community asset for future generations.”
For more information on the project, visit the museum’s website dowagiacmuseum.info. Donations to the museum are tax-deductible and 100% of donations will go toward the project. Donations of $500, $1,000, $2,500, $5,000 and $10,000 being recognized on a donor wall in the museum upon the project’s completion.
Donations can be made online through the museum’s website or mailed directly to the museum.
