photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

The Watkins Museum of History

Following the loss of federal funding for an educational program for local teachers, the Douglas County Historical Society has launched a fundraising campaign to help offset the financial shortfall, and museum directors fear how future funding cuts will affect their programs.

The Douglas County Historical Society was informed on April 8 that an already approved grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services, IMLS, had been terminated due to President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14238, titled “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy.” IMLS was one of seven agencies directed to be reduced to the minimum required to fulfill their legal responsibilities.

IMLS, which supports museums and libraries across the country, was funding online classroom resources on the Underground Railroad for teachers of grades 3-12. The Underground Railroad was a network of routes and safe houses that helped enslaved people in the 19th century escape to freedom.

Steve Nowak, the executive director of the Watkins Museum of History, said a GoFundMe account was created to raise $13,000 for the program, an amount of federal funds that was anticipated to be reimbursed to the museum following an event for educators at the end of last year. The event explained the materials included in the Underground Railroad program and how they could be used in the classroom. It also featured an invited speaker to talk about how storytelling could be used as a way of sharing history, Nowak said.

“With that grant terminated, that doesn’t affect our ability to complete the project, (but) it does affect our ability to recoup the costs that were already spent on finishing the project,” he said. “There is about $13,000 left to be distributed on that grant, and that is money that we’ve already spent, so it would be nice to recover that.”

“And that was where Shannon (Hodge’s) idea for a GoFundMe campaign kind of kicked off,” Nowak said. “We thought even if we could get something that would help offset the expenses we’ve already incurred, it would help.”

In total, IMLS has provided $231,002 to fund the online resources platform along with supporting the completion of the museum’s third-floor permanent exhibits and the digitization of collected records, according to a memo outlining all the federal funding the Douglas County Historical Society and Watkins Museum have received in the last five years.

From 2019 to 2024, both have received more than $416,000 in federal funding. Of that, $162,196 came directly from the National Endowment for the Humanities, NEH, or through Humanities Kansas, supporting projects such as the digitization of rare World War II archival records, the development of online programming tools, field trip curricula for five historic sites in Douglas County, and the collection of numerous oral histories.

As the Journal-World reported, Humanities Kansas has been at risk after Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, demanded deep cuts to staff and programs at the NEH. Humanities Kansas supports small nonprofits, museums, libraries and senior centers with events like book discussions, speaker talks and exhibits to enrich communities. Lawrence alone has hosted over 8,000 such events in the past 30 years.

photo by: Screenshot

Federal grants the Douglas County Historical Society and Watkins Museum has received from 2019-2024.

“We do not have an open grant with Humanities Kansas … but in terms of future grants, we will be affected because we frequently go to them for project grants,” Nowak said. “They’ve helped us digitize materials, develop programs and that’s all up in the air whether they’re going to be able to continue those programs.”

Additionally, $23,604 in funding from the National Park Service — provided through grants from the Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area and the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom — supported a historic structure report on the 1858 Grover Barn, field trip curriculum, outdoor exhibits, exhibition casework and promotional materials.

In 2024, online programs at Watkins engaged 8,855 participants. In just the first quarter of 2025, these programs have already reached 5,199 people. Since January 2025, NEH grants have also supported field trips for more than 600 students.

The elimination of the NEH, IMLS and other federal grant programs would strip away critical support for small, primarily volunteer-run museums in Kansas, including those in Douglas County. Without this funding, such programs are likely to end. Some Kansas museums may face severe cutbacks — or be forced to close entirely, the memo said.

“The real challenge that we face is the discontinuation of future grant opportunities,” Nowak said. “Looking back, the federal grants have been significantly important to us.”

“And the changes happening at the federal level are affecting all of those grant sources,” Nowak said. “About 35% of our operating budget comes from grants, and with the changes at the federal level, access to about 70% of our grant sources is now eliminated, so that puts us in an operating funds pinch.”

The federal cuts have also impacted projects that the museum hoped to obtain funding for this year. Nowak said that Watkins applied for a $250,000 grant from the NEH in January, and that funding would have supported the expansion of the museum’s permanent exhibits to explore local history from the perspective of Indigenous peoples.

“(The expanded exhibit) was advised by a group of tribal representatives who’ve been helping us put together an exhibit that tells a story from the perspective of Indigenous peoples,” Nowak said. “Our exhibits tell things from the culture of white settlers, and we realized we couldn’t really tell that story, or really knew what story Indigenous peoples really felt needed to be told.”

Nowak said that the project is ready for implementation; however, now the development of the exhibit is up in the air.

“We’re left hanging with a really good project, one that would be really unique in our area, and one that I think would really resonate with the interests of people in Douglas County, and really no way to move that forward,” Nowak said.

Despite the sudden cuts, the Watkins Museum is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Nowak said that the museum has accomplished much in its lifespan, with its biggest achievement being preserving the Watkins building itself at 11th and Massachusetts streets and opening it as a museum of history.

The museum has also established core exhibits on both the second and third floors, and Nowak said neither could have been done without strong community partners that help reach new audiences, help connect the museum with new and interesting stories and make the most out of Watkins’ resources.

“I think it’s important for people to realize that even though what’s going on at the federal level seems like a long way from Lawrence, it is having a real impact on what the museum can do for the public and how we can continue to grow,” Nowak said.