The Gresham Historical Society is proud to announce to its membership that we have received not one but two grants this year from the Oregon Heritage Commission!

The Oregon Museum Grant for $8,000 will go towards improving our collection storage. After the project is completed, our collection storage will be temperature controlled with new shelving and boxes that fit our needs. A temperature-controlled environment mitigates the risk of mold, which breaks down objects over time. A temperature-controlled environment also prevents the nature warping, expanding, and shrinking of certain objects, such as wooden objects, that occur with changes in temperature and humidity. New archival quality boxes and packing materials will ensure that our artifacts stay safe for years to come!

The second grant is the Preserving Oregon Grant for $4,500 which will go towards repairing a 2-foot crack in the foundation of the Historic 1913 Gresham Carnegie Library. This project is also funded by $3,800 in donations from museum guests, Gresham residents, and you, our dedicated membership.  For a full list of contributors, please see page 11. These grant projects wouldn’t be possible without the support of our community and volunteers! Thank you for your support and contributions!

We would like to give a special thanks to Mayor Bemis and the City of Gresham Historic Resources Sub-Committee for their formal support of our restoration project. We would also like to thank our grant project community partners: Cultural Homestay International, KMO, Inc., Tsuru Island, and Portland State University Department of History.

If you would like to help further support these projects, please consider giving a monetary contribution to offset project expenditures, or contact the museum at info@greshamhistorical.org to discuss volunteer opportunities.

For these projects, we need volunteers who are comfortable working with computers and who can lift up to 20 pounds while climbing stairs.