Historical society asks county for slight raise in funding for 2018

The McLeod County Board of Commissioners referred the McLeod County Historical Society’s 2018 budget request to its budget committee at its Oct. 17 meeting.
The historical society is requesting $83,107 for 2018, an increase of $4,005 above the $79,102 the county allocated the society and historical museum in 2017.
Lori Pickell-Stangel, the executive director of the McLeod County Historical Society and Museum, also outlined some of the grants the society had received, inlcuding a $112,000 grant to replace all of the museum doors and upgrade the bathrooms to meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards.
It also received $97,623 in grant funds in 2016 for a variety of programs and projects, including:
• A heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) study for the museum.
• Taping of the “Bringing Books to Life” programs.
• Purchase of a microfilm reader for use in the research library.
• A three-year contract to make Ancestry Library Addition available to the public in the museum library.
• A carbon-dating project for its dugout canoe.
• A World War I anniversary display design and layout for the historical gallery.
For more about the request, see the Oct. 25 print edition of The Chronicle.