Valuable Artifacts in Danger
Tax deductible
The Pawnee County Historical Society Museum and Dick Tracy Headquarters needs help.
Hi, I am Sandy Beaudoin, Treasurer of the Pawnee County Historical Society and Museum. We are a 40 year old institution formed in 1979 by a group of citizens concerned that this most historic county was losing its history. They began meeting monthly at each other’s homes, elected officers and gained non-profit status in the State of Oklahoma with the stated purpose :"To bring together those people interested in history and especially in the history of Pawnee County. To discover and collect any material which may help to establish or illustrate the history of the area." An IRS 501(c)(3) was granted in 1995.
Once the word got out, local participation was quickly loading the group with artifacts, newspapers, lovingly compiled family histories and boxes and boxes of assorted memorabilia. It was not long until the collection outgrew the closets and underbeds of the members. The search for a building was on!
Our first home was a loaned small brick building, once the telephone office. It did not take long for the collection to over-run this edifice. The Society was once again on the search for quarters. A local merchant came to the rescue by allowing the use of an empty double front space in a building on Harrison (“Main”) Street. No matter the building lurched about 30 degrees to the east, the outside wall being supported by real flying buttress. It may have been crooked, but it was ours! And it was on “Main Street”, no less!
Of course the inevitable came to pass. Several years later the owner determined the building was not worth further repairs and sold it at auction. The Pawnee County Historical Society, unable to match the high bid, was once again homeless. It was panic time. And then the unbelievable. Another local merchant was thinking about downsizing to have more leisure time for fishing. He had what had originally been four, fifty foot store fronts on the square. (Pawnee is the county seat of Pawnee County.) He offered to sell us two of the stores, which he had already connected, at a very favorable price and to owner carry the note at an equally favorable interest rate. We are still in that building, on the square, in downtown Pawnee.
The building is now ours, paid off in 2008 with only the dues, gracious donations by members and one grant which paid for the A/C equipment originally, 17 years ago. Now we need help. Both units of that equipment failed within weeks of each other. With the closing of the Dick Tracy Museum in Woodstock, Illinois, The Pawnee Historical Society Museum also became the Dick Tracy Headquarters.
Chester Gould, the creator of Dick Tracy, was born and raised in Pawnee, graduated from Pawnee High School. We had already dedicated a section of our Museum to Chester and his master detective. When the Woodstock facility closed, the family sent many of the treasured artifacts to us. On our own, we had accumulated many of his original strips and comic books. Now these precious items are at risk without climate control. Please don't let the world's greatest detective get lost to the future. He's rough, tough, and always one up on the bad guys, but he needs your help now! Please donate to our effort to raise the funds to pay for the heat and air units necessary to maintain the climate required to save these priceless artifacts. Our need is great, and it is now! The new units will be installed next week. Arrangements are being made to get a loan so the contractor can be paid, but the $15,000 necessary will be difficult to repay with only garage sales and our minimal gift shop income.
Please note: We are a 100% volunteer organization. We have never had any government support at any level, we have no paid employees nor do we charge an entrance fee for our museum. Our income has been derived from membership dues; donations from Pawnee alumni and past residents appreciative of our efforts in preserving the history of their town, schools and families; from visitors impressed with what we have been able to accomplish; from genealogy research; from endless garage sales, our small gift shop and the occasional vintage style show.
Come visit us on the web. Or on Facebook.
Hi, I am Sandy Beaudoin, Treasurer of the Pawnee County Historical Society and Museum. We are a 40 year old institution formed in 1979 by a group of citizens concerned that this most historic county was losing its history. They began meeting monthly at each other’s homes, elected officers and gained non-profit status in the State of Oklahoma with the stated purpose :"To bring together those people interested in history and especially in the history of Pawnee County. To discover and collect any material which may help to establish or illustrate the history of the area." An IRS 501(c)(3) was granted in 1995.
Once the word got out, local participation was quickly loading the group with artifacts, newspapers, lovingly compiled family histories and boxes and boxes of assorted memorabilia. It was not long until the collection outgrew the closets and underbeds of the members. The search for a building was on!
Our first home was a loaned small brick building, once the telephone office. It did not take long for the collection to over-run this edifice. The Society was once again on the search for quarters. A local merchant came to the rescue by allowing the use of an empty double front space in a building on Harrison (“Main”) Street. No matter the building lurched about 30 degrees to the east, the outside wall being supported by real flying buttress. It may have been crooked, but it was ours! And it was on “Main Street”, no less!
Of course the inevitable came to pass. Several years later the owner determined the building was not worth further repairs and sold it at auction. The Pawnee County Historical Society, unable to match the high bid, was once again homeless. It was panic time. And then the unbelievable. Another local merchant was thinking about downsizing to have more leisure time for fishing. He had what had originally been four, fifty foot store fronts on the square. (Pawnee is the county seat of Pawnee County.) He offered to sell us two of the stores, which he had already connected, at a very favorable price and to owner carry the note at an equally favorable interest rate. We are still in that building, on the square, in downtown Pawnee.
The building is now ours, paid off in 2008 with only the dues, gracious donations by members and one grant which paid for the A/C equipment originally, 17 years ago. Now we need help. Both units of that equipment failed within weeks of each other. With the closing of the Dick Tracy Museum in Woodstock, Illinois, The Pawnee Historical Society Museum also became the Dick Tracy Headquarters.
Chester Gould, the creator of Dick Tracy, was born and raised in Pawnee, graduated from Pawnee High School. We had already dedicated a section of our Museum to Chester and his master detective. When the Woodstock facility closed, the family sent many of the treasured artifacts to us. On our own, we had accumulated many of his original strips and comic books. Now these precious items are at risk without climate control. Please don't let the world's greatest detective get lost to the future. He's rough, tough, and always one up on the bad guys, but he needs your help now! Please donate to our effort to raise the funds to pay for the heat and air units necessary to maintain the climate required to save these priceless artifacts. Our need is great, and it is now! The new units will be installed next week. Arrangements are being made to get a loan so the contractor can be paid, but the $15,000 necessary will be difficult to repay with only garage sales and our minimal gift shop income.
Please note: We are a 100% volunteer organization. We have never had any government support at any level, we have no paid employees nor do we charge an entrance fee for our museum. Our income has been derived from membership dues; donations from Pawnee alumni and past residents appreciative of our efforts in preserving the history of their town, schools and families; from visitors impressed with what we have been able to accomplish; from genealogy research; from endless garage sales, our small gift shop and the occasional vintage style show.
Come visit us on the web. Or on Facebook.
Organizer
Sandy Beaudoin
Organizer
Pawnee, OK
Pawnee County Historical Society
Registered nonprofit
Donations are typically 100% tax deductible in the US.
