Clay County Historical Society

Goal: $25,000.00

Specific Need

HVAC/Temperature and Humidity control for artifact storage
Warehouse wall repair
Display repairs/improvements
Monitors / Screens for interactive exhibits and slideshows
Installing additional lighting in storage areas for a safer working environment

Mission

The purpose of this Society shall be to bring together those people interested in history and the history of Clay County, Kansas. The Society’s major function will be to discover, collect, and preserve any material which may help to establish or illustrate the history of the area.

Profile

The Clay County Historical Society was founded in 1972 to collect and preserve the history of Clay County, Kansas. Since we began we’ve established the Clay County Museum in 1975 and have had over 1,000 visitors every year. We also own and maintain three historic buildings, a store, a one-room schoolhouse, and a church.

Our organization has striven to work with the local school system. For 26 years, the schoolhouse has been used by local students during a One Room Schoolhouse Day which was started by one of the local teachers. On average 100 students come through the museum during their Kansas Day event.

Our organization has collected over 100,000 artifacts relating to Clay County. Within the past ten years, one of our biggest goals has been to digitize or create a digital copy, of everything in our collection. We have digitized over 15,000 artifacts so far. This not only provides a backup of our collection in case of a disaster, but it also allows us to better help with research requests we receive from the community.

To obtain the knowledge to maintain our collection using Best Practices, we are part of two museum associations, the Mountain Plains Museums Association and the Kansas Museums Association. Our staff strive to attend one of the two conferences each year.