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Strengthening Our Digital Backbone

Support the systems that keep the Museum operating every day

$10,000

When you visit the Museum, you see the galleries, artifacts, photographs, and stories that bring our community’s history to life.

But behind those experiences is an infrastructure — one most never see.

Servers store our files. Networks connect our staff and visitors to information. Cybersecurity protects the records entrusted to us. Together, these technologies form the Museum’s digital backbone. It allows us to preserve history and share it with our community today and for generations to come. And that backbone needs strengthening.

Over the past decade, the cost of maintaining this essential infrastructure has increased by more than 400%. Technology is no longer simply a convenience for museums — it is vital.

Raising $50,000 within the next six months will allow us to replace the Museum’s principal operating server. This may not sound as exciting as a new exhibit or the discovery of a historic photograph, but this server is what helps make so much of our work possible.

Through careful maintenance and planning, we have extended our server’s useful life. But we do not want to wait for a failure to force an emergency replacement. We want to invest now, while we can make the transition safely, strategically, and responsibly.

In 2024, support from the National Archives and our donors helped us digitize more Pantagraph Negatives and move our servers to an offsite, climate-controlled environment designed to help protect them for the long term. That support made a significant difference, but it only upgraded our archival storage servers. It did not include the Museum’s principal operating server. This server connects all our digital assets and powers our daily operations.

Whether you give $50, $100, $500, $1,000, or more, your contribution helps…

  • Protect the digital records and resources entrusted to the Museum.

  • Preserve history in an increasingly digital world.

  • Support the systems that keep the Museum operating every day.

As the year winds down, please consider making a gift toward strengthening our digital backbone. Your generosity today will help connect people to the power of local history.