Museum Guild brings history downtown

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SANDPOINT — The Bonner County Historical Society and Museum has dreamed of being downtown for a long time.

However, the expense put that dream out of reach — until now.

Enter the Museum Guild — part museum, part gift shop, and part funky space with special treasures, each with their own unique story.

The guild is the "serendipitous culmination" of two long-standing dreams of the Bonner County Historical Society, Bonner County Museum Executive Director Heather Upton said. The first: The museum has hoped for a downtown presence for years to build awareness of local history and its exhibits. Second: museum officials wanted to create — and showcase — local products and books unique to the area.

"We all have a love for the museum, and our community," Upton said. "And a love for magical vintage and antique objects that we believe all have a story and want to help continue that story for that object."

Upton happened to meet the Panida's new executive director, Veronica Knowles, about the same time as a front retail space became available. It didn't take long before she said they both realized the space was the ideal spot for the museum to accomplish both goals.

"The opportunity was irresistible, but we knew that operating a retail space downtown would be a significant undertaking," Upton said.

The challenge was in how to make it happen.

A "Museum Guild" was assembled to transform the dream into reality — Josie and Dennis Buckmiller, Hannah Combs, Margot Mazur and Brooke Moore forming the core group — to steward the vision.

"The word guild evokes the spirit of a group of craftspeople joining together in shared purpose, which perfectly describes this group," Upton said.

The group's combined knowledge, love of history and knowledge of antiques, art and quality goods make the Museum Guild shop a special place, she added.

"I really believe that the universe helped pull this all together with us," Upton said.

Equally important to the creation of the Museum Guild are the museum's board and its many volunteers, Upton said.

"We couldn't have done it without them helping to support this mission," she added. "I've had so many people volunteer to just work a day, they just want to be a part of this … it's truly like if you build it, they will come and the amount of community support has been incredible."

The Museum Guild gives the museum the ability to boost its community presence — and bring awareness to local history.

Upton said in many ways the Museum Guild is, in a sense, an annex of the museum itself, allowing her another space to curate some of the items from the museum's extensive, one-million-item-plus collection.

It also has the potential to support the museum's operating budget even more significantly than some of its hallmark fundraising events, Upton said.

"But perhaps more importantly, it will also be an educational space that helps tell the story of our community's history," she added.

Being able to share those stories, from the people to places like the Panida to "the community spirit that has driven our little town for decades," Upton said benefits everyone, from the museum to the community to those visiting.

The guild's front window, which faces the intersection of First and Main, gives Upton the chance to curate another space to highlight local history. While the museum has been around since 1978, the museum's executive director said she still finds many people are unaware of its existence.

The Museum Guild will sell a wide variety of antique items collected by the guild members, as well as Bonner County-specific merchandise created by the museum. In addition, the gift shop will sell a comprehensive collection of local history books, books by local authors and playing cards featuring local historic photos. Botanical sketches and house plans created by a local artists also will be featured.

The museum also is working to create new products, using the museum's archives for inspiration, including prints of local maps, historic photos, and prints of vintage Panida show posters. Other branded merchandise, such as a coffee blend created with Evans Brothers Coffee also will be sold at the Museum Guild.

"Really it's all the very unusual items that you can't find anywhere that are really special, and have a story behind them," Upton said.

Vintage clothing and home accessories also will be featured, as will furniture — such as benches and more — crafted from historic salvaged wood. Antique furniture donated to the museum, but lacking enough of a local provenance to be accepted into the museum collection, also will be sold at the Museum Guild.

"We have our amazing collection at the museum but it has a very specific scope," Upton said. "In order to have something accepted into the museum collection, it has to tell the story of Bonner County.

"A lot of people have a wonderful item that was their great-grandmother's that's very special to them. They just wanted to go to a good home and they want to support the museum."

This allows them to do both — the treasured item finds a new home to continue its story and its sale benefits the museum's operations.

"I think that's what will also be a huge positive thing for the museum, because we always feel sad, like having to turn away a really fabulous item, because it just doesn't have enough of a provenance for this local community," Upton said.

Forming a focal point is a poster-sized photo of one of the museum's more than 70,000 historic photos. The photos have become a popular addition to local homes and business — now with the Museum Guild, Upton said the museum will be creating a catalog of its top photos, separated by subject. That will allow the museum to both highlight its photo collection but give those interested a spot to browse the photos — and order the ones they like.

The expansion to downtown won't mean the end of the gift shop at the museum itself. That gift shop, located at 611 S. Ella Ave., remains open and will primarily feature books published by the Bonner County Historical Society Press and other books by local authors. 

Upton said the goal is to staff the Museum Guild with guild members and museum volunteers, much like how the Community Assistance League operates its upscale resale shop, Bizarre Bazaar.

Those interested in volunteering can go online to the museum's website, bonnercountyhistory.org, and fill out a volunteers form. Those preferring to do so in person, can stop by the museum.

The expansion to downtown won't mean the end of the gift shop at the museum itself. That gift shop, located at 611 S. Ella Ave., remains open and will primarily feature books published by the Bonner County Historical Society Press and other books by local authors. 

The Museum Guild, located at 300 N. First Ave., will be open Wednesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m.-4 p.m.