While the impending holiday season may signal 2025 winding down, the Derby Historical Society and Museum is just gearing up for its capital fundraising campaign that was officially launched a couple of months ago.
Thanks to an anonymous donor, all donations to the museum (up to $200,000) will be matched through June 1, 2026. And with one of the museum’s oldest fundraisers — the Christmas Tree Gala — coming up, volunteers and board members are pushing for contributions to bolster those efforts.
A goal of the capital campaign is to get it fully matched at $400,000, which is projected to cover half of the costs for planned renovations, with plans officially designed over the summer coming to an estimated $800,000. The plans include electrical and HVAC updates for the building, as well as installation of a wheelchair lift (similar to The Venue) for second floor access.
“It’s not like we have the money to do everything right now, so it kind of depends on how this capital campaign goes as to how we attack that,” said Derby Historical Society President Butch Ewing. “We’ll see how we can do.”
So far, work has begun on items the museum can fund — namely the installation of the wheelchair lift.
Plans for the HVAC updates would normally call for the installation of a rooftop unit. However, given concerns over costs and the age of the building, a plan was worked up to install 18 smaller units — like for a standard household — across multiple zones of the museum building.
Given the number of units, the HVAC updates could be addressed in phases, set to bring cooling functions to the building for the first time ever and restore heating functions that were last available in 1993.
“Obviously, getting some heating and air conditioning in that building it’s not only going to save the artifacts and the displays that we have set up in there, it’s going to make it a lot more bearable. Not just for us to go in there and work all the time, but it’s going to be a lot more pleasant for people to come in, spend some time there and check out the exhibits to see exactly what we have,” said founding museum board member Susan Swaney.
While preparing for the annual tree gala, Swaney said she has already been thinking about what having heating and cooling could mean for the museum and its events in the near future. It would provide a climate-controlled workplace as early as next year and could allow the fundraising event to expand into the museum, too.
First though, the electrical updates will need to be made to facilitate the HVAC work, so efforts will continue to maximize the impact of the capital campaign.
As the funds come in, the hope is to get all the planned upgrades completed eventually — which could help expand museum hours and bring in more guests. And the museum volunteers are happy to have the support.
“I’m excited that somebody thinks enough of us that they’re going to match $200,000 in donations from other individuals,” Swaney said.
Donations to Derby Historical Society, a 501c(3) non-profit corporation, are tax-deductible. As a volunteer organization, donations are also applied 100% to its mission. For more info or to donate, visit derbykshistoryMuseum.org/donate.