From today's Richmond Times-Dispatch: [see also the museum's web site: http://www.vafire-police.org/] Virginia Fire, Police Museum To Close $125,000 Would Keep It Open BY JANET CAGGIANO Aug 22, 2002 Unable to overcome mounting financial woes, the Virginia Fire and Police Museum will close Sept. 1. The move does not mean officials are giving up on the historic site on West Marshall Street. They hope to organize a memorial event at the museum on Sept. 11 to remember the victims of the terrorist attacks. Volunteers will spend next month trying one last time to raise $125,000 to keep the museum operating. If the money is raised, the museum will reopen Oct. 1. If not, its closing will be permanent. "We are looking for a miracle," said Susan Longest, the museum's director since 1999. "We have done everything we can do. But we are out of time." Former Richmond police officer Cheryl Ann Nici is volunteering to assist the board in its last-ditch effort to raise the funds. Longest and Vicki Mollenauer, the museum's assistant director, will continue to apply for grants. Can Richmond really afford to lose another part of its history?" Nici asked. "Who now will tell these stories?" The museum was hit hard last year when state budget cuts were announced. Since then, it has lost $100,000 in state funding ($50,000 a year) and another $100,000 in matching grants. Longest and Mollenauer went 13 months without getting paid, and other volunteers pitched in to keep the museum open. But it wasn't enough. The museum was forced to cut back its hours and reduce its staff to two. In April, officials set June 1 as the deadline for raising $125,000 - the minimum needed to keep the museum operating for one year. A month later, the museum sold the last of three parcels it owned near the museum for $70,000. That was enough to bring the museum out of debt and pay salaries to Longest and Mollenauer. With things looking a bit brighter, board members voted to keep the museum open on a month-to-month basis. But since April, donations have totaled just $12,483.44. The museum has applied for 56 grants, but was rejected on all but one ($5,000 from Capital One). "Everyone we applied to said we were financially unstable," Longest said. "I can understand that, but somebody really needed to step forward and give us a chance." The museum is housed in Steamer Company Number 5, which served as a fire station from 1849 to 1968 and was a temporary police office and jail from 1865 to 1898. The museum opened in 1981, providing exhibits on fire and police history. Educators have taught thousands of children about fire safety. Designated a national landmark in 1995, the museum owns more than 800 historic photographs, 200 fire and police logbooks, 600 badges, helmets from the 1700s, uniforms, hose and chemical carts, a 1790 ladder truck and a 1906 steam engine. If the $125,000 is not raised by the end of next month, the board will have to decide what to do with those artifacts. Items on loan to the museum will be returned to owners. "I can't imagine walking out of the museum a last time," Longest said. "It's just too sad. It is very disappointing, the closing of any historical institution, but to lose all this history is devastating." -- ~~~ Ray Bonis Special Collections and Archives James Branch Cabell Library 901 Park Ave. VCU Box 842033 Richmond, VA 23284-2033 (804) 828-1108 [log in to unmask] www.library.vcu.edu/jbc/speccoll/speccoll.html ~~~~ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html