Fundraising Ideas for Historical Museums by Ruth Paget

Fundraising Ideas for Historical Museums by Ruth Paget 

I associate historical museums more with field trips than as money generating sites, but I think historical museums need to think about revenue generating activities when seeking donors or government support. 

Class field trips like the ones I took as an elementary school student to the Detroit Historical Society helped provide that organization with operating funds as well as teaching young students about the Chippewa Native Americans, French fur traders and Michigan trading posts, and the impact of the Ford Model T on American society. 

The high cost of insuring field trips has made them almost a relic of the past in public schools in cash-strapped districts. This situation has probably forced historical societies to seek donors to ensure operating funds. I love historical museums and think there are several ways they could increase revenue. 

The first way is to seek out parents who will take their own children on field trips. Reaching parents is not as easy as contacting a school board, but historical museums might think of advertising the benefits of a visit to their site to the following markets, especially if they have newsletters: 

-religious organizations 

-sport teams 

-language organizations 

-charter schools 

-K12 school groups 

-music schools 

-dance schools 

-drama groups 

When I lived in Wisconsin in the 1990s, field trips had become a parent’s responsibility. I took my daughter Florence to the Wisconsin Historical Museum on Capitol Square in Madison to see exhibits about the Ho-Chunk Nation Native Americans, the lumber and paper industries, and German and Norwegian settlers, who lived in log cabins. This is another historical museum that is important for understanding the sociological and cultural history of the state. 

Historical museums have events that other historical museums might replicate. The Pickett’s Mill Battlefield, a Georgia State Park, holds re-enactments of the Civil War Battle fought there with African-American and white troops on the Union side. This event engages volunteers and the community. Even a nominal fee to attend this re-re-enactment could raise operating funds. 

Many historical museums offer hikes around their site or long walks in the museum. Museum visitors might welcome the chance to buy items such as the following to help support the museum:  

-cold water 

-cold soda 

-cheddar cheese fish chips 

-shrimp chips 

-tortilla chips 

-potato chips 

-brownies 

-guava cookies 

-cold brew coffee 

A combination of donors, sales, and parent doing their own field trips might increase historical museum revenue to keep these community resources open and increase funds for temporary exhibits and historical documentaries shown at the site. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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DeForest, Wisconsin Trip by Ruth Paget

DeForest, Wisconsin Trip by Ruth Paget  

My California family set out by car for a road trip to DeForest, Wisconsin for a Sawle Family Reunion from June 8 – 16, 2022. We drove through the states of Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Iowa. 

DeForest sits immediately off Interstates 90 and 94, north of university town Madison, Wisconsin on the way to tourist town Wisconsin Dells. DeForest is a good stop for tourists from Chicago. There are many fast food chains by the highway and Ehlenbach’s German Food and Gift Shop. 

My favorite fast food is the Wisconsin chain called Culver’s, which sells fish fry dinners everyday with 2 or 3 pieces of cod, coleslaw, a yeasty bun with butter, and crinkly fries that fill the bottom of the dinner tray. Drinks for this special are extra. Butter burgers are Culver’s main item along with daily ice cream specials – dairy land products from America’s Dairy Land. 

I lived in DeForest three years and think they did some nice things to promote local businesses and civic services. The local chamber of commerce offered a welcome wagon service that they presented to you at home or in a local food outlet. A chamber representative introduced me to local businesses like the video store, supermarket, movie theatres, library programs like summer reading and literacy programs, and farmers’ markets. The chamber representative gave me some coupons as a “welcome to the neighborhood.” I became a quick part of the community by becoming a literacy volunteer for a French woman in town. 

Ace Hardware is a business of longstanding that has gone into the food business. Besides tools, their billboard out front advertises Brat Party Kits. (Brats are bratwurst sausage.) The kits no doubt come with buns, German potato salad, coleslaw, maybe a pasta salad, and charcoal and grills, if you need them. 

About ten minutes west of DeForest in Waunakee are two good restaurants that tourists might also like – Cuco’s Mexican Restaurant and Rex’s Innkeeper. The Sawle Family Reunion was held at Rex’s, which features various kinds of steak and prime rib and excellent seafood with a soup and salad bar and yeasty buns and whipped Wisconsin butter. 

Across the street from Rex’s is Cuco’s. I like their tangy Mexican cheese enchiladas verdes with green tomatillo tomato sauce and pulled pork (carnitas) on top with beans and rice on the side. 

We did some tourism around DeForest, too, visiting towns that Laurent worked in when he was a representative for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce from 1994 – 1996. 

In Portage, red brick Main Street bars are now wine bars that also sell chocolate, cheese, and gifts. Hot and humid summers make Wisconsin good wine growing territory. 

At the outlet malls in Johnson Creek going towards Milwaukee, there are still good deals and lots of parking. At the Pine Cone Restaurant, you can eat breakfast and fish fry all day. 

In Sun Prairie, there is now a halal market that sells meat and fine produce. There are miles of barns here that the artist Georgia O’Keefe painted in her youth. The corn in the area is used to feed dairy cows. 

In Madison, we made a pilgrimage to Metcalf’s Market to buy pancetta, Maytag Blue Cheese from Iowa, and oblong country loaves of bread to toast for breakfast. 

We ate well in Wisconsin, but left the excellent craft brewery beers to the Wisconsin cousins. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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