2 county historical societies receive state grants
Two historical societies in the county received state grants aimed at keeping their operations up and running.
The Butler County Historical Society and the Harmony Museum each were awarded $4,000 in Cultural and Historical Support Grants by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, with the awards designed to help fund general operating expenses rather than new exhibits.
Rodney Gasch, president of Historic Harmony, said the award, while not eye-catching amounts, will certainly help with the museum's finances.
“It's not substantial for the Heinz History Center, but for the small community historical societies, it's substantial,” he said.
Both history groups received grants in the same dollar amounts in March. Jennifer Ford, executive director of the county historical society, said that, while it is a yearly grant, the organization is appreciative for the help.
“PHMC offers a grant every year strictly to fund operations in historical societies and small museums,” Ford said. “Yearly we apply for it and keep our fingers crossed that, once again, we will be part of their largesse.”
Although an annual award, this round of awards is distinguished by the COVID-19 pandemic and associated dip in revenue.“PHMC is delighted to once again award these general operating support grants to museums and historical societies, especially as museums face extreme financial challenges related to the pandemic,” said Andrea Lowery, commission executive director, in a statement. “These grants make a difference in communities all across the commonwealth, connecting Pennsylvanians with their history, serving as economic drivers and contributing to the quality of life.”Gasch said the museum typically rents out its three venues over the year for various types of events, but has been unable to do so since the pandemic began in earnest. While Harmony Museum has become creative when it comes to raising funds — holding gift card raffles to local businesses, for example — these losses still hurt. Four thousand dollars from the state won't make up for the losses, but it will help tide the museum over until its largest benefits can be held again.“It's really important, because it's for ongoing operations and there aren't that many grants that help you in that,” Gasch said. “It helps pay the utility bills, helps pay the insurance, and that's pretty crucial, and more so, in the time of COVID, because we've lost most of our sources of revenue like venue rental ... and our biggest events like the Christmas Market and Silvester that we participate in were canceled.” The county's society, too, will use the grant monies to help plug the holes COVID-19 has poked in its finances.“We, like all other institutions, have had to shut our doors for long stretches of time, so we haven't realized any income from tours or museum visits, no admissions income, and ... any major fundraising event that we hoped to do this year had to be canceled, so we are thousands of dollars down on the income side and are grateful to put $4,000 under that list,” Ford said. “It's a nice little offset for what we might have lost through a fundraising event.”These funds are unique, the two directors said, among museum grants because they are not aimed toward funding research, particular exhibits or the maintenance or expansion of collections. “Most (grants) are very specific, for collections management or research or exhibits, scripting and fabrication, and you have to go into quite a bit of detail about your goals, how you expect to meet them, and what product you'll end up with,” Ford said. “We are grateful for the grant. It's always needed, particularly this year, and we very much thank PHMC.”
