Matching grant could propel Battle Creek Regional History Museum into the future

The Battle Creek Regional History Museum wants to move forward by improving the way it looks back.

The nonprofit has tangible relics, photos and exhibits from the city's rich history displayed throughout its home inside the former Battle Creek Equipment Co. building at 307 W. Jackson St., near the confluence of the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo rivers.

Inside the 49,000-square-foot building, a new History Education Center is in development. The Battle Creek Regional History Museum has launched a crowdfunding campaign through a Michigan Economic Development Corporation $50,000 matching grant program to purchase audio and video equipment for the room, intended to host school groups and the general public for programing, meetings and other community events.

"There is so much local history available that people haven’t tapped or touched into," said Doug Sturdivant, BCRHM's president. "We hope to be a gathering point for the community. This room here will be something the community (can) use for all things like meetings and events. Now, we can have a lot more programs."

'We can make history fun.'

The Patronicity matching grant campaign launched Aug. 17, and the group has 60 days to reach its $50,000 goal, with donations and progress posted at patronicity.com/history.

The project will largely pay for new audio visual equipment and sound dampening to create a more immersive look at Battle Creek area history. The project has received letters of support from district leaders at Battle Creek Public Schools, Harper Creek Community Schools, Pennfield Schools and Athens Area Schools.

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The BCRHM has additionally been awarded a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to have an artist from the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi paint a mural highlighting local indigenous people before the arrival of European settlers. The other walls will feature black and white photos of local historical figures such as settler Sands McCamly, abolitionist and suffragist Sojourner Truth, health reformist Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and his brother, cereal magnate W.K. Kellogg.

In June, the History Education Center held a test event when it hosted 88 guests for a musical tribute to musician Del Shannon, who was living in Battle Creek in 1960 when he wrote and first performed his breakout hit, "Runaway."

“We’re trying to be more interactive," said Michael Delaware, a BCRHM board member. "This History Education Center becomes an interactive place where we can make history fun... We’re trying to break away from the main stories people hear about in Battle Creek. There’s a lot of really great stories."

The BCRHM, established in 2014, has 13,000 square feet of "Museum Lite" exhibit space near its entrance, currently celebrating the 100-year anniversary of Altrusa Daycare and the 75th anniversary of the Battle Creek Air National Guard base in Battle Creek. The property additionally has a Sojourner Truth Conference Room featuring storyboards about the life of the famed abolitionist and suffragist who called Battle Creek home, created by her fifth-generation descendent in the late Thomas McLiechey III, who died in June.

Historical Society archives find new home

The nonprofit is hoping to expand within the building, with Sturdivant saying they are improving the heating and cooling system in order to get an occupancy permit to open up the back end of the property. The room adjacent to the new History Education Center will soon be the new home for the Historical Society of Battle Creek archives.

The archives are mainly textual, with photographs, newspaper clippings, books and artifacts such as the only known signature of the illiterate abolitionist and suffragist Truth. For over a decade, the archives have been located in the basement of the Bronson Healthcare Fieldstone Center, with the Historical Society leasing the space for $1 a year. The development of the Bronson Behavioral Health Hospital, set to open at Glenn Cross Road in 2023, has put the future use of the current space in doubt, necessitating a move.

The Historical Society intends to move its archives into the new space in October. Both the BCRHM and Historical Society of Battle Creek share board members, with Sturdivant saying, "We have different visions for preserving local history, but our purposes are the same: to share Battle Creek history with the community."

Contact reporter Nick Buckley at nbuckley@battlecreekenquirer.com or 269-966-0652. Follow him on Twitter:@NickJBuckley

IF YOU GO

⋅ What: Battle Creek Regional History Museum

⋅ Where: 307 W. Jackson St.

⋅ Hours: Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, noon-5 p.m.

⋅ To donate: Visit patronicity.com/history; checks payable to the History Education Fund through the Battle Creek Community Foundation.

This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: Matching grant could carry Battle Creek history museum into the future