I have been the director of the Allen County Historical Society for almost one year. In that time, we have worked to become a more visible, viable, and active part of the community. To this end, we have produced new displays, new events, and participated in more community events like the Charley Melvin Mad Bomber Run for Your Life, the Thursday night Farmer’s Market, and Farm City Days. Not content to simply provide school tours, we have worked to bring the historical society into the classroom, allowing students to see pieces of history in their schools. Clearly, public outreach is an area in which we are striving to be better.
With this in mind, the Board of Directors for the Allen County Historical Society would like to ask the citizens of Allen County for your help. We want to know what you want to see at the historical society and what you think of it. We want to know what we do well, what we do poorly, and how we can improve as we fulfill our mission to preserve, interpret, and display the history of Allen County.
What programming and events would you like the historical society to provide? What is your favorite exhibit in our museums? What would make you come to the museum or bring your family to the museum more often? If you ran the museum for a day, what is the one thing you would change? We want to know what you think as we plan our 2011 museum season.
We cannot guarantee that every idea we receive will be immediately implemented. But, we want to create a historical society that interests, educates, and excites the community and welcome all suggestions to make this goal a reality.
All of our members will receive a feedback form in their next newsletter and we would love responses from each of our members. We also will have these forms available at the museum for those who are not members of the historical society. We also welcome comments and suggestions via e-mail and can be reached at [email protected] or will happily take notes via letters, which can be mailed to: Allen County Historical Society, P.O. Box 163, Iola, KS 66749.
Again, we want the Allen County Historical Society to be a place that the citizens of Allen County will be proud of, appreciate, and value as a place worth visiting time and again. Please let us know how to make your historical society better.
Jeff Kluever
Executive Director
Allen County Historical Society
20 S. Washington
Iola, KS 66749
620-365-3051
