Let’s start with Leon Adams and his handyman projects he has been doing. As I have mentioned in previous blogs, Leon is making curtains for us out of the old velvet stage curtain that used to hang in the school's auditorium. This project is a little more involved and will take some time. So far though, Leon has made a comb like template to measure out the pleats of the curtains and has measured the fabric to see how many windows can be covered. He has also taken on the task of updating our Native American exhibit by refurbishing out Cherokee mannequin. An authentic Cherokee skin tone paint was created by Lowes to make our Native American more accurate. Leon also sanded out all the bumps and divots so the mannequin head can look a little more life like. Due to the increase of heat and lack of air conditioning in Leon’s work room at the museum he has had to work on these projects at home. Hopefully he will be able to come back to the museum in the fall when it is cooler!
Tom has been keeping busy by planning ahead on events and making sure everything is working smoothly. He already has events in the works for our annual Colonial Christmas and four speakers set up for next year's “Evening With . . . .” Another great addition thought of by Tom was a museum Color Guard! I know you may be thinking why do we need this but it is for a good reason. Whenever we have events such as out Colonial Faire it is hard to obtain militia re-enactors because of the size of our events. With a Color Guard of three men on hand we are able to not only have our own militia for events but are able to be of service to the city if needed for a ceremony. I think this is a great way for the museum to get its name out there!
Financially the museum is doing better! Through the efforts of our Business Manager we have obtained a grant from Walmart and are in the works of trying one with the DAR. She has also set up a more detailed yearly budget for the museum that will help us stay on track better as we grow.
On the less exciting side, we are still in need of internet. One of our volunteers has been trying to get ahold of an internet company to see if they would be willing to help us out but there is no response back from them yet. Also, we have not yet moved a lot of things around in the museum. After much debate and mental reorganization of the room we have finally come to a conclusion on how we would like the museum to be set up. We will need some outside help to move a display case and a table around to their final spots. It is a big process to move some of our artifacts and we do not want to damage anything on display.
The museum is growing and changing slowly but we have come a long way in the past year. With hopes of an internship program, a new historical society, and more volunteers we are excited to see where we are this time next year. Thank you all for your support of the museum through reading this blog. We hope it gives you a glimpse of what our staff does on a weekly basis. We could not do it without supporters like you! Thank you!