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FRANKENMUTH, MICHIGAN

Presque Isle County Historical Museum in Rogers City received two awards from the Historical Society of Michigan at the 136th annual meeting and State History Conference held Oct. 15-17 in Frankenmuth.
The State History Awards are the highest recognition presented by the States' official historical society.

In the Communications Newsletters and Websites category, the Presque Isle County Museum received an award for "Outstanding Historical Websites".
The museum established its first website in 2008 - www.thebradleyhouse.org  to make its collections and activities more accessible to the public.
Later sites disseminated information about a variety of events and published information about;
The Metz Fire of 1908 -  www.metzfire.com
The wreck of the Carl D. Bradley in 1958 www.carldbradley.org
Rogers City's annual "Nautical Festival" www.nauticalfestival.org
Most recently, a museum site has also been set up on the Flickr photo-sharing service www.flickr.com/photos/bradleymuseum

In singling out the museum’s five websites for a State History Award, the Historical Society noted that “the websites extend the ‘reach’ of the museum to audiences outside of the area and help the museum to achieve several of its goals related to the preservation, interpretation, and dissemination of historical information about Presque Isle County.  The online store on the museum’s primary website has also increased gift shop and bookstore sales, providing additional revenue for the museum.”

     Executive Director/Curator, Mark Thompson, gives most of the credit for the success of the museum’s website to Warwick.  “If it wasn’t for Rich, we would still not be online,” he stated.  “His approach of minimizing costs and maximizing content on our sites is a model for other small museums.”    

This was the second time in three years that the museum has been singled out to receive the “Outstanding Local Museum” award.  In making the award, the Historical Society noted that it was unusual for a museum to receive the coveted award twice in such a short period of time, but that since receiving the award in 2007 the museum has “continued to improve every aspect of its operations, including the implementation of numerous programs and activities that make it unique among local museums.”

    The nomination for the award identified four areas in which the museum has demonstrated exceptional achievement:

     1.  Preservation, Interpretation, and Display of Local History Materials — This included the museum’s Local History Education Project that makes materials available to teachers in all of the county’s schools, the Local History Book Series that has now produced five books, expansion of the museum’s unique photographic collections,  the frequent changes to the museum’s exhibits, improved communications with members and community leaders through things like the newsletter, and use of the Internet to increase awareness of the museum and disseminate historical information about the county.

     2.  Community Involvement and Leadership  —  The museum has collaborated with many local organizations to present a wide variety of historical programs and activities like the Northern Lake Huron Pow Wow and Voyageur Rendezvous, the 100th anniversary commemoration of the Metz Fire of 1908, and the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Steamer Carl D. Bradley.

     3.  Effective Management of the Museum’s Finances — During a difficult economic period, the museum has been able to expand its programs and services as the result of effective, often creative, programs to generate revenue, combined with the conservative management of expenditures.  Expansion of the museum’s Sun Porch Gift Shop and its publication of five local history books have been particularly effective in producing new revenues to support the museum’s many programs.

     4.  Care of the Historic Bradley House and Grounds — The museum’s ongoing projects aimed at maintaining and improving the condition of the 96-year-old Bradley House and its grounds have been highly successful.

     In accepting the award, Museum President Nadolsky stated, “As a result of these programs and activities we are better historians and better caretakers of the history of the county.  The people of Presque Isle County can be very proud of our museum.”

 (For a complete listing of Historical Society Awards, visit http://www.hsmichigan.org/pdf/2010statehistoryawards.pdf )

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