PI Historical Museum receives two State History Awards
by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor
Members of the Presque Isle County Historical Museum (PICHM) received two major awards from the Historical Society of Michigan (HSOM) when they presented their 2010 State History Awards at the 136th annual meeting last Friday in Frankenmuth. The organization was recognized as an outstanding local museum (Local Society Award) and for their outstanding historical Web sites. Only 15 awards were presented statewide. ?The Local Society Award is activity based,? said museum board president Dave Nadolsky. ?The museum this year has been involved in a lot of different special exhibits and events.?
In 2007, the museum was honored with a State History Award as an outstanding local museum. ?Since then, the museum has improved, quite literally, every aspect of its operations, including the implementation of numerous programs and activities that make it unique among local museums,? said Mark Thompson, curator/executive director. FROM THE ?Local History Education Project,? serving all of the public and parochial schools in the county, to the diverse revolving exhibits, which include Great Lakes sailors and Christmas at the Bradley House.
The museum collaborated with several local organizations to present historical programs and provided historical and technical assistance to many organizations and businesses, including Presque Isle Newspapers. This year, the gift shop started selling their fifth book in the series: ?Before the Baby Boomers.? They also continue to scan thousands of historical photos, commissioned artist Dawn Barr to create a second steel sculpture and put in countless hours of volunteer time. During 2009, the volunteers put in a total of more than 1,400 hours in service to the museum. ?I think it is quite an achievement for the museum and great for the community,? said Nadolsky. ?Our hope is that people will, because of the recognition, come and visit the museum. That enhances tourism.?
IN 2008, Rich Warwick of Rogers City, working with Thompson, established the museum?s first Web site to make its collections and activities more accessible to the public. Later sites disseminated information about museum hours and events; offered information about the Metz Fire of 1908; documented the wreck of the Great Lakes freighter Carl D. Bradley in 1958; and made accessible a wide variety of photographs from the museum collections, a HSOM press release stated.
?I went to Mark a few years ago and asked him if he would be interested in having a Web site for the museum,? said Warwick. ?He thought it was a good idea. Of course, he has to go to the board. I put it on the server of another site I have. The board liked the idea, so we built a site strictly for the museum. Things changed as we?ve gone along. You want to improve it, make it bigger.? WARWICK SAID earning the award has meant a lot of time personally. ?I put a lot of hours into building these sites, and for a little museum like ours, to compete against the big places in the state, it is quite an honor.?
The museum?s primary Web site, currently registers more than 20,000 hits per month. Nadolsky credited Thompson?s leadership and efforts for the recent successes of the museum. He?s also appreciative of the membership, who continue to support the organization, and those whom purchase the books and merchandise and have made the organization self-sustaining. HSOM, which administers the State History Awards, is the state?s oldest cultural organization.