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After a year of change, museum looks to future

by HEATHER UPTON Contributing Writer
| March 31, 2021 1:00 AM

Last year was a great year of change for the museum.

Not only did the pandemic require us to reimagine our programming throughout the spring, but we did it all while transitioning staff. In February, Heather Upton, the museum’s curator, stepped up into the additional role of executive director, and Hannah Combs joined the museum team as the museum administrator. As the world shut down and our doors temporarily closed, we saw an opportunity to create a stronger virtual presence, create new flexible and sustainable programming, and improve our internal systems.

Highlights of the year’s accomplishments include: finding resourceful ways to continue hosting school tours of the museum; curating offsite exhibits at the Elks Lodge and MickDuff’s new brewery in the historic federal building; creating a flexible short-term strategic plan; adding 1,147 objects to our collection; and designing a robust quarterly newsletter. We also established a new fund, sponsored by Patty Rechnitzer, to publish historic books. Through this project, we were able to publish Gary Pietsch’s “Hope, East Hope” and “Clark Fork's Early History” and “A Glorious Field for Sawmills” by Nancy Foster Renk.

Tasked with the important role of preserving Bonner County’s local history, we are moving into 2021 with a focus on preserving the legacies of our community members and the places and memories that are important to them. We are recording personal stories through our oral history program, and we are streamlining our research program and archives so that these resources are more accessible to the public. We are working with individuals to do historic property research as they embark on preservation efforts for their homes or businesses.

An exciting upcoming project is restoring one of the largest objects in the museum collection this summer, the 1904 homestead cabin which sits in the arboretum. After repairing its roof, we will curate the interior as an exhibit and education space. We are also looking at how to expand our presence throughout Lakeview Park with new historical interpretive signage and interactive exhibits. We have been working with the public schools to create new historic programming that fits with the changing national and global climate. We are reimaging the gift shop to include an exhibit on early mercantile stores and a signature line of gift shop items branded as the “Museum Guild.” This year we look forward to reprinting more books and teaming up with Gary Pietsch to work on the production of a new book for his series on Bonner County.

Of course, we look forward to continuing to bring the community together for our annual outdoor events, including the spring Plant Sale and September Yard Sale, as well as our family-friendly Halloween celebration, in partnership with the Sandpoint Lions Club.

None of this would be possible without our valued community partnerships, the teams of committed volunteers who give their time to the museum, or the members, donors, and sponsors who make it all possible. As the story of Bonner County continues to unfold, we are here to listen, record, and share the moments that make Bonner County unique.

Heather Upton is curator and executive director of the Bonner County Historical Society & Museum.