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Grants Awarded Dubuque County Historical Society and National Mississippi River Museum

The National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium was recently awarded a large grant for its Rivers to the Sea Gallery from the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust. The River Museum will receive $200,000 that will help complete the final stages of the project’s third phase.

Carver’s generous support will help fund the design-build, fabrication, and installation of the River Museum’s newest permanent exhibit. Renovations are underway for the reimagined Rivers to the Sea Gallery. New tanks for new animals are under construction and interpretative content is in development. The River Museum anticipates the reimagined space to reopen in late winter 2023.

The Dubuque County Historical Society (DCHS) has also received several grants this summer that will benefit the Mathias Ham Historic Site and the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium. These funds will support programs, new exhibits, and renovations to DCHS’s facilities.

State Historical Society of Iowa – $32,000 – State funding will help replace the sprinkler system of the William M. Black National Historic Landmark.

Resource Enhancement and Protection (REAP) Conservation Education Program – $21,305 – REAP funds will support development, implementation, and evaluation of the Rivers to the Sea conservation education interpretation and programs.

City of Dubuque Arts & Cultural Affairs GARE Grant Program – $2,000 – The new focal point of the Rivers to the Sea project is a Marshallese hand-built outrigger canoe that will be built by Dubuque’s Marshallese community. The exhibit will serve as the new introductory exhibit to the River Museum’s Rivers to the Sea Gallery. These funds will help pay for the materials required to craft the boat.

Anderson Corporate Foundation – $5,000 – The reimagined Rivers to the Sea exhibit will feature a wider variety of aquatic life that will reflect a global scope.

City of Dubuque Arts & Cultural Affairs Special Projects grant program – $3,400 – A special production of A Christmas Carol is coming to the Mathias Ham Historic Site in December 2022. This grant will support this interactive holiday production. Audiences will follow the actors from room to room in the Mathias Ham House as the tale unfolds.

The James B. & Melita A. McDonough Foundation – $2,500 – The Dubuque County Historical Society is participating in the Museums for All program. This program assists those below the federal poverty threshold to access these organizations.

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