Cuts to Local Museums and Libraries
“Some people think history only happens in cities,” says Delaware County Historical Society Education Director Samantha Misa. “But people lived in rural areas during most of our history. It was in the country where commercial enterprises, farmers, writers, inventors and entertainers provided goods and services to their neighbors and to people farther away, It’s important for people to know that their ancestors lived lives here—that Delaware County was not just a place of escape.”
Misa’s words come alive in DelCo’s numerous historic sites. Meridale’s popular Hanford Mills is alive and pumping with waterpower, one of the few active water mills in the country. Visitors see the power that cut the lumber to build towns and cities, made the boxes in which milk was shipped throughout the states, and carved out tools for agriculture. The railroad had a dedicated stop at the mill, and the mill even harvested ice which kept meats from local farms fresh here and was shipped down to cities.
“We still harvest ice up here,” says Kajsa Harley, Hanford Mills director. “Visitors participate in the harvesting in winter and in July, they can come back and help take the ice out of storage from the icehouse to make ice cream.”
At the Delaware County Historical Society’s Frisbee House, located on Route 10 near Delhi, the focus is home life, social life and the story of travel in Delaware county: a home which dedicated a front room as a weekend watering hole for locals, an upstairs bedroom for travelers on their way from upland to down, and furniture that displays the handicrafts of another time. Objects tell stories and these stories are often deeply personal. One recent event was a “Crack the Secret Code” event in which visitors looked through the coded diaries left by farmers. “We cracked the code to learn one farmer’s lament “I could be a slave on this farm for the rest of my life,” remembers Misa. Another recent event found county diggers and museum guests using metal detectors to search for artifacts on the land.
According to studies by the American Alliance of Museums, museums and historic sites are the public’s most trusted sources of information, ranked above researchers and scientists, the government, news organizations and social media. Moreover, these sites greatly boost local economies. In New York State alone, museums contribute $5.37 billion to the economy, and $3.9 billion employees’ wages. Historic sites further stimulate local economies by boosting business in the hotels and restaurants nearby.
But museums are in grave danger, on a national and a local level. Along with our libraries and schools, the current Republican administration has targeted these beloved sites for extinction. In March, Trump issued an executive order eliminating the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the primary federal agency supporting museums, rescinding all contracts and grants that help keep museums afloat. In Delaware County the federal government terminated a federal grant of $ 238,475 grant to Hanford Mills. “We just received a form letter,” the Education Director told us, ‘You are no longer consistent with the agency’s priorities.” Just as abruptly, the money was given back to Hanford Mills, with no explanation. But the museum is proceeding with caution, as there is no way to predict what the future will bring in this political climate.
“It’s a precarious financial climate, and private donations are thinning too. But Samantha Misa says that the best way to sustain museums is through attendance. “Museums can survive as long as we still have visitors.”