Continuity of Museum Core Activities Initiative

FAIN: AH-275626-20

Durham Western Heritage Museum (Omaha, NE 68108-3205)
Becky Putzer (Project Director: May 2020 to October 2021)

Employment of 12 staff across four departments, as well as eight summer interns, in order to preserve museum collections and enhance digital programs.

Housed in the former Omaha Union Station, a National Historic Landmark since 2016, The Durham Museum serves as the largest history museum in the Omaha, Nebraska region and a major attraction for both families and students. The museum closed on March 16 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will remain closed until statewide health directives indicate it is safe to reopen. As the museum faces significant earned income shortfalls due to its closure, it is faced with difficult choices to sustain our momentum, continue our collections preservation and digitizing efforts, generate new history-based content to engage the public, and maintain adequate cleaning, pest control, and maintenance of its exhibitions and collections. This grant will help alleviate these challenges by enabling the museum to retain critical staff that support our mission through preserving and sharing our region’s history and maintain our public spaces and collections areas through the end of 2020.