First campaign in Waupaca group’s history
By James Card
The Waupaca Historical Society started its first-ever capital campaign.
The organization has been around for nearly 70 years and they decided to make some ambitious moves to preserve buildings and tackle some other projects.
The goal is to raise $400,000.
“Our board and I identified a number of things across our buildings that either were necessary to get done or were things we wanted to do – projects more community-oriented,” said Tracy Behrendt, historical society director.
New roof
Goal: It’s already done. The first goal of this campaign was a new roof on the Holly Center. The final work was finished last week.
The building has not had a new roof since it was the Carnegie public library. This was the society’s highest priority. The new roof matches what the original roof looked like when it was first built.
Audio upgrade
Goal: Improve audio accessibility at the Holly Center.
“We want to put in a hearing loop downstairs. It’s like what the library has. You install it in the floor and put flooring over it. People with hearing aids can hook into the hearing loop. All of our programs and other meetings can be broadcast through people’s hearing aids,” said Behrendt.
HVAC upgrade
Goal: Install new heating and air conditioning units at the Hutchinson House Museum. There are many artifacts in this building where a climate-controlled interior would be beneficial.
Renovate kitchen
Goal: Increase storage area by rearranging the kitchen area.
When the library moved to its new location in 1993, the building became a restaurant. The historical society purchased the building in 2001. The kitchen is used when hosting programs and when the space is rented out.
Storage space is needed more than ever before.
“With the pandemic in the last two and a half years we’ve had more donations of objects as people cleaned their houses,” said Behrendt.
The society has received things ranging from vintage Lakemen uniforms, candlestick telephones and advertisements of businesses that are long gone.
Preserve postcards
Goal: Digitalize rare historical documents and exhibits for preservation and access.
The society started a second website: www.chainolakeshistory.org.
“We have digitalized postcards and old photographs from the Chain O’ Lakes on there. People can just type in a lake name and those will pop up. There’s people in the community that have great collections and we’re hoping—even if we can have those just loaned to us of a little bit to be able to digitize them—that’s a priority,” said Behrendt.
The plan is to model the success of the Chain O’ Lakes website and push it further. The content would be accessible online in the future but the biggest step is getting the material digitized in the first place. This also includes documents, maps and letters but also artifacts that can be digitally photographed.
Building for large items
Goal: Build a pole-barn type building on their property on Balch Street for huge artifacts.
The society reeives some physically large donations: farm implements, restored wagons and old machines but has nowhere to put them.
The society owns a small patch of property near Nelson’s Strike Zone. The vision is to have an open-storage area where these items are on display and people can walk through and learn about them.
Also there would be space for viewing work-in-progress restorations. It’s an ideal location because it is near the railroad depot museum.
Lost arts
Besides the captial campaign, the society launched a new program. The mission of the Lost Arts Folk School is: “To bring together multigenerational participants together to develop and practice hands-on learning in a nurturing environment. We encourage skill-based learning of traditional arts and crafts. We are rooted in a community of people learning, building and appreciating the lost arts together.”
The fall 2022 class offerings will be pumpkin carving with Jim Miller (locally known for his legendary pumpkin display during Halloween) and Norwegian dragon carving with Mitch Vessa. The classes will be held at the Historical Railroad Depot in Waupaca.
More information about time and date and sign up can be found on the historical society website or by emailing [email protected].