Dear Friends,
I want to thank each of you who has reached out with messages of support or donations to the Baltimore Museum of Industry during these tumultuous times, and to provide you with an update about where things stand with regard to our current activities, our financial position, and our reopening plans.
At this moment of national reckoning, I believe that history museums have a special role and responsibility. For the BMI, that means being the stewards of Baltimore’s proud industrial history and the teller of stories about the daring entrepreneurs and hardworking laborers who transformed a sleepy colonial town into a manufacturing powerhouse. Equally important is the BMI’s commitment to shining a light on the legacies of the men and women who were denied the jobs that would carry their families into the middle class, and who did not have full access to the American dream.
Now, more than ever, as the world recognizes that “essential” workers are sometimes those who earn minimum wage and lack access to health insurance, and as systemic inequities in work are laid bare, it is critical that the BMI continue to tell these stories with nuance and respect. That is why we are working so hard to ensure that the museum is positioned to thrive and endure for many years to come. That is why the museum remains committed to serving our many communities, even as our doors are closed and staff works remotely.
Here’s what we’ve been up to:
Creating Exhibitions: Work on the Bethlehem Steel Legacy Project continues. Our team plans to open an exhibition this fall featuring women who worked in the mills. The collections staff is actively increasing the number of items archived in our collections and available in our online catalog.
Providing New Learning Opportunities: The education team’s prodigious accomplishments have included a range of online activities for families, upcoming virtual programs that explore timely topics such as how the pandemic will reshape the workplace, and a brand new digital field trip offering, developed at the request of teachers who have come to rely on our popular on-site field trips.
Serving Communities in Need: We recently developed City Kits, all-in-one activity boxes designed to bring the best elements of our signature field trip programs to children at home. With generous support from the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore and delivery assistance from two of our wonderful board members, Jeff Cooper of Len the Plumber and Phil Tulkoff of Tulkoff Food Products, we were proud to distribute 2,000 City Kits, free of charge, to families at all 18 food distribution sites set up in public schools throughout Baltimore City in early June. This pilot batch of City Kits was designed to meet the most urgent needs of a population that may not have access to online learning and is vulnerable to falling behind with schools shuttered. In the coming months, we’ll develop additional kits themed around our popular programs and exhibitions, and make them available more widely to students throughout Maryland.
Sharing our Campus: After we closed the museum building in March, we partnered with MedStar Health to provide our campus as a COVID-19 testing site. We moved our Saturday farmers’ market just down the street to a temporary location so that the farmers and customers who have come to rely on this waterfront favorite still have access. The market will return to the BMI’s campus as MedStar wraps up testing later this month.
The museum was fortunate to enter the COVID-19 crisis in a healthy financial position, with adequate cash reserves to carry us through a period of extended closure. I have been humbled by the generosity of so many members of our community who have stepped up and supported the museum during this difficult time. Unfortunately, as the shutdown has extended, we made the difficult decision to announce a combination of layoffs and furloughs, effective June 20th. These changes will enable us to weather the storm and ensure the museum’s longevity.
As Maryland continues to move toward reopening, we are making adjustments to our reception procedures, refining cleaning protocols, and putting plans in place to ensure your safety when we open our doors again. In keeping with City and State regulations and public health guidelines, we hope to announce a reopening date later this summer.
I look forward to seeing you back at the museum in the not-too-distant future!
Thank you, and be well.
Anita
P.S. I hope news of our activities has inspired you! Please visit our website if you’d like to support our ongoing work.