Foundation’s grant helps keep Aurora’s history safe
Valuable works of art and historic artifacts will be safe and sound this winter and for years to come thanks to an emergency grant to the Aurora Historical Society from the Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley.
The $9,000 grant is for the replacement of the entire HVAC system at one of the historical society’s primary collections storage facilities, a building that is part of its Tanner House Museum campus on Cedar Street.
“We’ve been nursing the old system along for several years already,” said John Jaros, executive director of the historical society, “and to have it finally break down just at the onset of cold weather was a disaster for us. Something like 40 percent of our collection is in this building.”
Mary Clark Ormond, president of the historical society’s board of trustees, said the society has no reserves for emergencies of this magnitude due to budget cutbacks.
“History keeps growing every day,” she said. “For example, we expect a big influx of new donations as we mount the first Vietnam-era exhibit. But although we do our best to keep collecting and preserving, there isn’t much margin for taking care of emergencies. We are incredibly grateful for how quickly the Community Foundation grasped the danger to the collection and how generously they came to the rescue of Aurora history.”
The Aurora Historical Society, founded in 1906, is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the collection, preservation and presentation of Aurora’s rich heritage.
The society operates two museum locations and a gift shop, and presents events, exhibitions, programs and publications throughout the year. More information is available at aurorahistory.net or on Facebook, facebook.com/aurorahistory.
The Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley, founded in 1948, is a nonprofit philanthropic organization that administers individual charitable funds from which grants and scholarships are distributed to benefit the citizens of the Greater Aurora Area, the TriCities and Kendall County.
For information, see communityfoundationfrv.org.