CARIBOU, Maine — Nylander Museum officials and supporters celebrated both the facility’s annual opening day event and the success of a $20,000 fundraising effort on Memorial Day, just after the 10 a.m. parade.
Members of both the Nylander Museum Board, a municipal organization, and Friends of the Nylander, a non-profit fundraising arm of the museum, were contacted by an anonymous donor in December, who offered to match all money raised until Memorial Day, up to $10,000.
Since then, museum volunteers have been hard at work raising money to hit that goal, and have received overwhelming support from local businesses, organizations, and individuals in the community.
Board member Gail Hagelstein said she learned about hitting the $10,000 goal just weeks ago and that while not all the money from donation jars has been counted, the group likely is over the goal.
Hagelstein said that, when she initially learned about the challenge, she was confident that they would hit the goal by the May 28 deadline.
“Since the Chamber of Commerce closed down, it’s been up to us,” Hagelstein said. “We’ve had a lot of positive feedback and as we have grown, improved, and expanded, we just hear more and more positives about what we’re doing.”
She said the fundraising began with online auctions, and then involved sending letters to family and friends, both locally and nationally, seeking donations to help the museum.
“People understand that the Nylander is an important part of this area’s overall history, not just natural history,” she said, “and they don’t want to see that lost.”
Founded in 1939, the Nylander Museum houses many of the collections of self-taught naturalist Olof Nylander, who emigrated to the Caribou area as a young man. Today it houses not only his collection but additional specimens that have been donated, including fossils, rocks, minerals, shells, mollusks, insects, plants, stuffed mammals and birds, photos and documents. A fixture for school age children and anyone interested in natural history for generations, the Nylander Museum often hosts educational events and activities.
The $20,000, according to Hagelstein, is “in the hands of Friends of the Nylander.” The non-profit plans on consulting a financial advisor to determine how to “spend it as well as grow it.”
One of their first ideas is to purchase a new projector that can mount on the wall while public speakers give presentations, and also to display upcoming events and information while the museum is open.
Board member Nelson Ketch, great grandson of museum founder Olof Nylander, said the projector will help during programs, which curators of the museum want to host on a more frequent basis. Ketch added that some of the displays may be improved so children and guests in wheelchairs can more easily see the fossils and artifacts on display.
As far as hitting the $10,000 goal, Ketch said he was “really happy” to learn the news.
“It was a surprise when this all started,” he said. “I got a call from someone [in December] who said they’d be at my place in 20 minutes, and that’s what started it all. From there we scrambled to figure out how to raise the money, and a lot of businesses and local people stepped up. A lot of people in the area want to support the place.”
The museum has four special events slated for June alone: a tree identification presentation from forest ranger Will Barnum beginning at 1 p.m. on June 9, a Midsommar event about Swedish culture at 1 p.m. on June 16, and two tours of the Woodland Bog Preserve starting at 9 a.m. June 23.
Anyone interested in volunteering or supporting the museum can contact the museum via email at nylandermuseum@gmail.com.
