OLDS — The Olds Historical Society (OHS) has raised more than half the money it needs to construct its long-desired link building, chair Donna Erdman says.
Erdman made that statement during the OHS annual general meeting, held last month in the Mountain View Museum and Archives (MVMA). She pegged cost of the building at between $50,000 and $55,000.
The building, discussed with town council in 2020, would link the MVMA to an adjacent building which was formerly a garage but for several years has served as the society and museum’s educational centre.
Construction of the building is a major part of the society’s five-year strategic plan.
During an interview with the Albertan, Erdman was asked if the link building will be constructed this year.
“That would be wonderful,” she said, but added it’s not known if that will actually happen.
Erdman noted that a tight economy is having an effect on donations.
But it’s not all doom and gloom.
Treasurer Ernie Johnson reported that last summer, a resident donated 1,000 gold bullion shares, with the proviso that they go toward the link building.
Johnson said when transferred into a trust account, the shares were worth $19,500. He said since then, their value has soared to more than $25,000.
“If the world situation continues (to deteriorate) they might be worth considerably more than that,” he said.
Johnson said the question now is how long to keep the shares where they are.
Johnson said the gold bullion shares donation highlighted a problem. People donate to the museum, but the Olds Historical Society is the one that’s registered.
“People give us a cheque to the Mountain View Museum. Guess what? Not a bank in the country will touch it, so it’s to the Historical Society,” he said.
In his treasurer’s report, Johnson said the society’s operational surplus at the end of 2023 was just over $19,536.
He said the society needs to obtain more revenue and suggested that the educational centre could help do that.
Johnson said the society has an “ad hoc” funding agreement with the town and he’s hoping a more formal and official funding arrangement can be hammered out. He said efforts are underway to make that happen.
Johnson said in 2022, the society didn’t receive funding from the town until May, and that makes things pretty stressful for an organization like the OHS, which doesn’t obtain a lot of revenue.
“It is a bit tenuous, our funding,” he said.
Manager and program coordinator Chantal Marchildon said marketing and advertising campaigns have “increased our reach to the general public.”
She said their Google business profile rose from 178 searches last April to 413 searches last November.
Their Instagram followers have doubled to 248 and they now have 100 Facebook followers.
Interactive displays have been very popular, especially with younger visitors.
Marchildon noted that a new logo was unveiled in September. Rebranding efforts continue through rebuilding of the website and creation of a brochure and membership cards.
The museum and society are in the midst of a major program to digitize their collection.
During the museum’s annual January hiatus, volunteers helped research, photograph and repack more than 400 collection items in six weeks.
Marchildon said so far, more than 1,500 collection items have been digitized and tagged.
Johnson praised the move to digitize the collection.
“From the management of the museum position, it makes sense,” he said.
“You can put pictures in the thing, it’s all there. And it’s searchable. In other words, if you want to know where Mrs. McGillicuddy’s butter churn from 1919 is, bang, boom, it’s there, which makes it much simpler.”
Marchildon also said during the hiatus, new 1950s exhibits were created, along with a turn-of-the-century exhibit in the basement.
Archivist Gerda Vester said efforts are underway to work with lawyers to highlight the opportunity for people to include the society in their wills.
“It’s a good way to get people thinking,” she said. “If they see a small postcard about why should they leave photos and papers to the archives, it might give a little prod to people.”
She said she has spent time making the archives more efficient.
Vester said interns have been very helpful, doing things like going through “mystery boxes” and labelling items.
Catherine Alfke Hawthorne joined the board.
