Museum director highlights summer fundraising push, grant bids and cataloging plan

Jacob, the museum director, told the Yellowstone Gateway Museum Board on June 23 that the Yellowstone Gateway Museum Foundation has been accepted into the July "Give a Hoot" fundraising campaign and urged board members to help promote donations.

"Every dollar donated to the Yellowstone Gateway Museum Foundation does support the museum," Jacob said, noting the foundation currently helps fund one full staff salary and conservation materials, and supports programming and internships in partnership with Montana State University. He asked board members to share social posts and to encourage contributors during the monthlong campaign.

The director framed the foundation’s support as critical to staffing and collections care: the foundation pays a full salary while the county covers benefits, and it funds conservation supplies and programming. He said family days and living-history events continue this summer, with free family programming typically on the last Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Jacob also updated the board on two grant efforts: the museum applied to the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) for a grant that, if awarded, would fund a three‑year contract registrar to tackle a long backlog of uncataloged artifacts. "We should know in August," he said. He described the registrar role as key to photographing, cataloging and stabilizing items currently stored on pallets or in non–acid-free boxes.

Separately, Jacob said the museum is pursuing a county-level funding request for a large‑format scanner and printer to digitize fragile books and high‑resolution photographs for online access and exhibit production. He acknowledged wide price ranges for such equipment — from a few thousand dollars to specialized international scanners that are prohibitively expensive — and said the goal is to find equipment usable by a small staff and volunteers.

Volunteers have recently cleared an overgrown back lot to prepare for new storage paid for by a Montana Historic Preservation Grant, Jacob added. He noted some large artifact elements (notably parts of a stamp mill that board members estimated weigh multiple tons) will require heavy equipment to relocate and will be scheduled as a future project.

Finally, Jacob proposed updating the board handbook and aligning it with an upcoming strategic-plan refresh; he asked for volunteers to review and help revise governance materials. He said he will circulate the existing board book digitally and can print copies once updates are finalized.

The museum reported no formal new policy decisions in the meeting; the board accepted the director’s updates and agreed to follow up on grant outcomes and digitization options.