Federal budget freezes have hit a local museum.
According to a news release from Hanford Mills Museum, museum officials learned late Wednesday, April 9, from the Institute of Museum and Library Services that Hanford’s two IMLS-funded grants had been terminated, effective April 8.
“The grants totaled $238,475 ($82,516 of which not yet disbursed) of essential funding for programs offered to area visitors, residents and children and the preservation of items and information with local historical significance,” a news release from the museum stated.
The termination letters, signed by acting IMLS director Keith Sonderling, state that “IMLS has determined that your grant is unfortunately no longer consistent with the agency’s priorities and no longer serves the interest of the United States and the IMLS Program.”
Hanford Mills Museum, in East Meredith, preserves an operational water- and steam-powered sawmill and gristmill as well as a historic manufacturing, retail and agricultural site. With a staff of five full time employees and some part-time employees, the museum “offers 3-4 special events, serves thousands of visitors, and provides over 250 educational programs to area schools each year,” the release stated.
IMLS had awarded HMM two grants for multi-year projects to help complete critical work that would enhance their service to the public: one to improve the management and care of its historic objects to ensure that they last for current and future generations (2022-2025), and the other to create an interpretive master plan informed by community participation that would guide the museum’s activities into the future (2024-2026), the release stated.
With the termination, the museum loses $34,187 that was already allocated to cover work on these projects in 2025. That means about 8% of the museum’s total budget for the year has been unexpectedly cut, according to the release. One of the grant projects included a professional development workshop that was open to other local museums, and that training will now be canceled.
“This unfortunate news arrived as I returned from the annual conference of the Museum Association of New York,” Executive Director Kajsa Harley said. “I had just heard many stories of canceled federal funds from colleagues across the state. Ours is one of hundreds of similar situations unfolding across the country right now, in rural communities and cities alike.”
IMLS awarded the grants to Hanford Mills after a competitive process “that acknowledged HMM’s outstanding integrity and interpretive work among small historic sites,” the release stated. Grant applications are awarded based on review not only by IMLS agency staff, but also by panels of museum professionals from across the country “who understand the nature of the field’s work, the need for museums to directly serve the public, and the measurable positive impacts museums have on local economies and community preservation,” the release stated.
Most museums and libraries have to match every federal dollar they receive with money from their own operating budgets in order to get the funding support, according to the release. “The impact of these federal grants far exceed investment, both in terms of public education and enrichment and what museums contribute to their local economies as tourism drivers and employers,” Harley said. “As a small rural museum, we stretched every dollar from this federal funding so that we could do our best work in providing fantastic programs and preserving the site and our historic artifacts. We leverage grants like these to help us with our efforts to provide low-cost or no-cost experiences to local families, visitors to the area and our neighboring schools.”
Despite the funding terminations, “HMM remains committed to its mission to inspire audiences of all ages to explore connections among energy, technology, natural resources, and entrepreneurship in rural communities,” the release stated.
“The work that museums and libraries do is essential to our communities,” Harley said. “Our hope is that our communities value our work enough to support us, financially, of course, but also as ambassadors who are willing to advocate for us to state and federal officials.”