photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

The Watkins Museum of History

The Watkins Museum of History has reached its goal of raising $13,000 to make up for a federal grant that was canceled by the Trump administration before all of the funding could be disbursed.

As the Journal-World reported, the $50,000 grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services was meant to fund online classroom resources for teachers of grades 3-12 about the Underground Railroad, the network of routes and safe houses that helped enslaved people in the 19th century escape to freedom.

Steve Nowak, the Watkins Museum’s executive director, told the Journal-World in April that the museum had originally expected to get $13,000 of the grant funding to reimburse it for an event for educators at the end of last year, which explained the materials included in the Underground Railroad program and how they could be used in the classroom. But, in April, the museum was informed that the grant, awarded in 2022, had been terminated by the Trump administration, and the reimbursement would not be coming.

“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,” Nowak told the Journal-World at the time.

The museum started a fundraiser to close the gap, and it passed its $13,000 goal at the end of May, according to a news release from the museum. The campaign collected $5,305 from 39 people on a GoFundMe page, $1,700 in checks from museum members and a $6,000 donation from “a long-time supporter,” whom the museum’s release did not name.

“The Watkins Museum’s IMLS grant remains terminated,” the release said. “But with the goodwill and generosity of its community, the Watkins has maintained the momentum of its public service and educational programming, and demonstrated that teaching about the Underground Railroad and other aspects of local history does, in fact, serve the interests of our public and all Americans.”