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1331 Algoma Boulevard, Oshkosh WI 54901 • 920.236.5799 • oshkoshmuseum.org
MEMO TO THE MUSEUM BOARD
January 8, 2021
To the Board,
After the Holidays and with the start of a fresh year, this has certainly been a whirlwind week. This
would have been our Board meeting week and as it looks now, there will not be a February meeting,
unless it is virtual. However, not all Board members have the capability of meeting virtually.
Our two new staff members, Archivist Amy Fels and Custodian Joe Montalbano, joined us on Monday.
We are excited to have both on staff. Amy of course has a great deal to learn because of the
responsibilities associated with that position, but she is clearly up to the task. An employee’s first week
is always the most challenging and so we try to smooth the first week out and introduce them to the
tasks and museum routines in a gradual and logical manner.
It is always a time consuming task to remove the Holiday decorations from the Museum and of course
we did not have the help from Members this year because of the virus. However, Katrina Achilli and
Matt Reinke did a fine job and we are almost back to normal. The focus next week will be removing
Museum Curiosities in preparation for the installation of Star Wars. We expect that Star Wars will be
popular and we now have an online reservation feature.
I thought I’d share a few highlights from last year. We ended 2020 with more paying visitors (2,418)
than anticipated, and general revenue of $18,007. Of note, we were able to control visitor numbers
without any issue and we never exceeded the maximum capacity of the building. The point-of-sale and
reservations systems worked exceptionally well and we have far greater control and understanding of
attendance and Membership than ever before. Each visitor is asked if they’d like to round-up their
purchase to the next dollar for the Endowment, and that generated $128 over five months. Over the
years and with increased attendance, the round-up feature will have a positive impact on the
Endowment.
In regard to Museum Membership, sadly several of our long-time Members passed away and of course
I knew many of them. Our end-of-year campaign was successful and our Members proved to be
incredibly generous; we received several wonderful notes about the direction the Museum is heading
and the role we play. The Membership program is a key indicator of the Museum’s general health. In
2020 and despite the cyber-attack and the pandemic, the few volunteers that worked logged a very
impressive 333 hours!
This month we begin a new virtual feature called “Museum Mondays.” This free monthly program is
aimed primarily at seniors, but anyone can register and participate. Staff will explore a wide variety of
topics in the 30-minute programs and they will focus around images and artifacts from the collections
that enhance the stories.
That ends the week and I hope you have a pleasant weekend,
Brad Larson