From: Douglas County Historical Society <dchs@douglashistory.org> Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2019 18:15:23 -0500 Message-ID: <CAOJc7HuweHsnFJGi8ULEoEA2T3w=gHEDdHYc7fLZ5RTVKqGwiA@mail.gmail.com> Subject: Re: advice for starting a local history center
Start out by creating a business plan including financial projections for
both income and expenses. Just like any business, a non-profit needs a
business plan.
Jon Winter
Douglas County Historical Society
1101 John Avenue Superior WI 54880
Business Manager
715-392-8449
On Mon, Sep 30, 2019 at 5:26 PM Jason Tish <jason.tish@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi everyone-
>
> I'm involved with a small energetic group working on a plan for a local
> history center for Madison. Local history in Madison is a unique
> situation. We have only a narrow niche that is not covered by the State
> Historical Society, the UW Archives, the Madison Public Library's local
> history collections, and the Dane County Historical Society. We have a
> solid handle on that niche.
>
> What we really need advice on is how to actually plan for, and create the
> physical space for a history center/museum/research facility. Our current
> model entails a small exhibition space, and archival facility, and space
> for an office, a reading room, and presentations. We expect it to be an
> iterative process where we start out in a space that may not have all of
> that. Our priority is to bring together a collection of documents and
> artifacts in order to demonstrate the need for a permanent facility. We can
> do do that initially in a facility that doesn't;t meet all of our needs,
> and later move to facility that does (unless fund-raising proves more
> successful than we expect)
>
> If you have ever been involved in developing a local history facility,
> what is the one piece of advice (or two) that you wish someone had given
> you before you started?
>
> --
> - Jason
>