Environmental Monitoring Equipment and Training

FAIN: PG-266588-19

Old Courthouse Square Museum (West Bend, WI 53095-3333)
Janean S. Mollet-Van Beckum (Project Director: January 2019 to April 2025)

The purchase and installation of 29 dataloggers, training staff in the use of the equipment, and preliminary analysis of the data by a consultant, as recommended in a 2018 preservation assessment. This project would address the preservation needs of the historical society’s collection of 35,000 objects, which relate to the people, traditions, and history of Washington County, Wisconsin, and range in date from prehistoric times to the present. Holdings include business ledgers, advertising materials, and company histories from the West Bend Company and Enger-Kress Leather Goods Company, as well as artifacts from local breweries and dairies. The collection also contains 17,100 photographs and more than 800 cubic feet of family collections, school records, and local history books.

The grant will support the installation, implementation and staff training for an environmental monitoring program in the Washington County Historical Society’s two main buildings.