CARIBOU, Maine — Last year was good for the Nylander Museum of Natural History, as the organization doubled the number of visitors from 400 to 800 and added a myriad of new programs. The piece de resistance, however, was an anonymous $10,000 donation to Friends of the Nylander, the non-profit branch of the museum which directs all donated money toward additional programs and activities.
Nelson Ketch, who sits on the Nylander museum board and is the great grandson of museum founder Olof Nylander, was surprised by the generous donation.
“I just had a phone call out of blue [in December],” he said. “They just said they were going to be at the house in 20 minutes.”
The donor, who board members are choosing not to identify, told Ketch that the donation was for educational purposes, improving displays, creating more activities and programs, and drawing more people to the facility. It would not go toward operating or maintenance costs, since that aspect of the Nylander is funded by the City of Caribou.
The only caveat attached to the donation is that Friends of the Nylander will only receive what they are able to raise in matching funds by May 28 of this year. For example, if $5,000 is raised by museum volunteers by then, they would receive $5,000 from the donor.
Museum board member Gail Hagelstein said the donor “believes in the importance of the Nylander museum.”
“And the importance it has within this town,” Ketch added. “Olof was local, and the museum is local. They were worried it might close and thought this would help us improve it and get more visitors in here.”
Fears over the Nylander closing were heightened when city councilors discussed the future of the facility during a Nov. 13 meeting, along with the possibility of no longer funding the museum.
Hagelstein said she had not heard anything from the city since a budget hearing last October, and Ketch said he had “heard they wanted to meet” and discuss the facility, adding that “there are people on City Council who want the place to stay.”
Members of both the Nylander board, a municipal entity, and the non-profit Friends of the Nylander are ready to take on the challenge of raising as much money as possible for the facility.
“No one is going to put more pressure on us,” Hagelstein said, “than us. We know we need to prove ourselves to the council, and we know what needs to be done. There’s a lot of work to do, and it’s beginning to pay off.”
Fundraising efforts already have been set in motion, and include reaching out to several local businesses, speaking at an upcoming rotary meeting, placing donation jars in businesses throughout the area, creating posters and sending letters to spread the word, utilizing all forms of multimedia, and auctioning gift certificates to donors via Facebook.
Ketch said the donor was giving members of the Nylander and local community an “incentive to double the amount,” and all who are affiliated with the organization are optimistic about taking on the challenge.
Board member Carol Wolfington said a “lot of people are coming forward and indicating that they are interested” in helping the museum.
Immediate plans for expanding programs, according to Gail, include adding displays to the walls, hosting presenters from the Chewonki Foundation, and developing a new program every month in addition to opening the facility for student tours throughout the week.
Andrew Ketch, President of Friends of the Nylander and a great great grandson of Olof, said he plans on offering guided tours of scenic locations in Aroostook County where Olof used to collect fossils.
As a child, Andrew Ketch said he and his grandfather Herb Ketch would go to Limestone Point at Square Lake and dig up the fossilized remains of ancient creatures.
“We’d always think we were digging up dinosaur bones,” he said, adding that people can still uncover fossils at the lake today.
“So many people canoe through there and they have no idea what’s literally right there,” he said. “That’s a place everybody can go.”
Andrew Ketch’s focus is to get community members involved both in and out of the museum, and show people where Olof spent much of his time.
Hagelstein added that one of the Nylander’s goals is to go beyond displaying “fossils of butterflies” and create a more interactive environment for guests.
“We want people to interact, connect, and understand our world a little better,” Hagelstein said. “We’ve started to do that now, and now that we have some money we can really take off with it.”
Even before the donation, many board members were optimistic about the museum’s future, however the generosity of one anonymous community member has clearly inspired all involved.
“I wouldn’t have become a board member if I didn’t have passion for the Nylander,” Wolfington said. “This donation matches that even more; it’s pretty phenomenal.”
Nelson Ketch said he’d been enthusiastic ever since the City Council gave the board another chance to get the museum up and running again, after removing the Caribou Chamber of Commerce (which was located in the Nylander building) from the 2016 municipal budget in 2015.
“We ran through about 400 people in 2016, and had about 800 last year,” Nelson Ketch said. “We’ve doubled the amount of people coming through the museum,” adding that “37 came through about a week ago.”
Hagelstein said, as of Jan. 18, that the museum had already seen 60 visitors in 2018, and that the upcoming Chewonki visit would certainly increase that number.
Andrew Ketch said it’s “very encouraging” to know people are behind the museum and that being “in the public eye” a bit more has helped out the facility.
“A lot of people have started to volunteer,” he said. “They realize the local history we have here. It’s intriguing to see people come in and look at an old photo and say ‘Wow, that’s my uncle’s farm.’ A lot of those farms are still here.”
Nelson Ketch added that at least three homeschool students have picked out houses from old photographs that they’ve lived in.
“That’s really what it’s all about,” Wolfington added.
Board member Kate Easter said she is optimistic now, and that she was optimistic before they received the donation, adding that the Nylander Museum of Natural History is an excellent tourist stop.
“When someone travels to Caribou and spends 48 hours here,” she said, “this is the sort of place they’re going to go. This is what brings people to come visit us, and it’s the thing that encourages young families to stay in the area.”
“You don’t stay for the stores,” she added. “You stay for something like this, or the Rec Center. These are the things that keep families coming, and interested in remaining here.”
