Don’t Get Off the Couch. Don’t Get Dressed Up. Don’t Leave Home.

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 Do Donate!

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"UnMasked" A Virtual Fundraiser

November 1-19, 2021

  

Join the Fort Smith Museum of History for "UnMasked", a virtual fundraiser from November 1-19th!

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Sponsorship levels and Benefactor donations support our month-to-month operational costs and help ensure our mission of collecting, preserving, and sharing the history and culture of Fort Smith and the region through exhibitions, education, and programs, and assists us in inspiring people to learn and experience the importance of Fort Smith in the growth of Arkansas and the nation. 

 

Donations will add you to our membership as a new or renewed member, making available to you a number of discounts that includes free museum admission, special invitations to events, exhibit openings and programs and the quarterly newsletter Museum Notes. Membership at the Joint Level and above includes a joint membership with the Fort Smith Historical Society and issues of The Journal of the Fort Smith Historical Society. Choose your donation level by clicking on the donation "button" that best suits to your budget. 

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*Scroll down to click on site "buttons".  

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The Fort Smith Museum of History was founded in 1910 as a private, non-profit, 501 (c) 3 organization. 111 years later, we still are. We are the oldest functioning museum in the state, located right here in Fort Smith, with a mission of collecting, sharing, and preserving the history of Fort Smith and the region. Through education, exhibitions, programs, and outreach, we educate the region on the history of the area. We serve five counties, Sebastian, Crawford, and Franklin counties in Arkansas, and Sequoyah and Leflore counties in Oklahoma. 

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Although we have begun to find our post-COVID footing for recovery, the financial impact of COVID-19 was and continues to be negatively impactful to the Museum.  We have cancelled several of our annual events this year, “Pardi Gras”—our major annual fundraiser, and other long-standing traditions such as the annual Ice Cream Social due to COVID numbers and concerns. Other events, exhibitions, and programs have been presented to limited audiences or tentatively rescheduled for a later date due to financial strain. Visitors are returning to the museum—visitation is near 2019 numbers--and it is our hope that additional funding will help us begin offering visitors the full range and experience of studying artifacts, enjoying the soda fountain and participating in the Museum’s events and programs. 

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As we look to the future, we are excited to share with you the partnership currently underway with Fort Smith’s MAHG Architecture and John Milner Associates, Historic Preservation Consultants from Washington, D. C. with Fort Smith ties. Together we will complete a Condition Assessment and Master Plan through a grant awarded to the museum by the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program in 2021. Completion of the Condition Assessment and Master Plan will allow these partnerships to move forward with preservation projects for the 1906 Atkinson-Williams Warehouse—our largest artifact. The expansion will focus on the care of the building, plans that enhance renovation of indoor exhibit spaces with updated technology, including expanding exhibit spaces into our upper floors, and a rehabilitation of the collections area—moving it toward an environment more suited to the climate and humidity levels supportive of collection care and conservation. This expansion will move in phases over the next five-seven years funded through phased grants, private donations, a capital campaign drive, and foundation monies.

 

To avoid large social situations but to support the above goals, we’ve created “Un-Masked” a virtual fundraiser to offer our supporters a unique, meaningful, and far-reaching--yet playfull experience to donate to the Fort Smith Museum of History in these times of financial need from the comfort and security of your own home.

 

Please join with us to ensure the future of our history for another 111 years and counting by making a tax-deductible donation online at fortsmithmuseum.org, by phone at 479-783-7841, by email at info@fortsmithmuseum.com, or by dropping by the museum at 320 Rogers Avenue.