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Skagit County Historical Museum reports digitization progress, collection and facility issues
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Summary
At the July 22 Skagit County Board of Commissioners meeting, the county historical museum outlined visitor numbers, collection-digitization progress and building issues including elevated radon in a storage area and recent vehicle damage; staff and volunteers plan mitigation while finances remain strained.
On July 22 at a Skagit County Board of Commissioners meeting, a representative of the Skagit County Historical Museum delivered an update on visitor programs, collections work and facility needs, saying 3,866 people had participated in museum activities since the last report.
The museum representative described recent and current exhibits, including a rodeo history show featuring material loaned by the Peth family, a Laurie Wells retrospective, and a community juried exhibit titled “Everyone’s a Critic,” which had 103 entries and public voting through mid-November. The museum reported 23,336 objects entered into its PastPerfect collections database and said 14,914 of those entries include photographs.
Staff outlined education and outreach programming, including bused school tours, a “La Conner Now and Then” seventh-grade program, and a youth education component with five elements. The museum said it provided scholarships to help cover bus costs and that funding support came from local partners.
Museum staff and volunteers described ongoing collections work: a collection manager named Laney had completed inventory of a major off-site storage area the museum calls “the abyss,” and archivist Mary Densmore said she had entered roughly 65% of exhibit catalog cards and had processed about 20 backlog block boxes. The museum reported it receives about 14 research requests per month.
The representative said the museum is finishing a Digital Heritage grant project to scan a large run of commercial photographic negatives, with staff and an intern streaming images to the museum website and launching a public identification campaign for unknown photos. The grant is funded through the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the presenter said.
The museum flagged several facility issues: elevated radon detected in a rock-lined storage area used as the Textile/ Hat Room, prompting monitoring and temporary sealing of the “rock room” to reduce staff and volunteer exposure; replacement and sealing of a leaking rear wall and windows paid for by grants from the Skagit Community Foundation and the Grama and Colleen Nunn Foundation; and vehicle damage to the building that is being repaired. The presenter said mitigation and repairs have costs the museum must absorb.
Museum leadership emphasized reliance on volunteers and local sponsors — listed on the record as Stowe’s Shoes and Clothes, Banner Bank, Baird Wealth Management and Sierra Pacific — and encouraged membership and donations. The museum noted it has seven staff members (one full time) and that most of the work is performed by part-time staff and volunteers. Regular public hours were listed as Thursday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the research library is available by appointment five days a week.
Commissioners asked clarifying questions during and after the presentation; Commissioner Wiesen and Commissioner Browning offered brief remarks of appreciation for museum programs and volunteers. No formal action or vote was taken on the museum presentation.
The museum presentation and supporting materials will be left with the commissioners’ office and staff were asked to add event dates to commissioners’ calendars, the representative said.
