Heritage Center in Springfield to close for month

Jan. 1—The Clark County Heritage Center in Springfield will close the month of January for general gallery maintenance and cleaning, the second straight year for the closure to make improvements.

"It's easier for us to be closed. We decided last year worked well and we'd do it again this year," said Natalie Fritz, archivist and outreach director. "It's good to (close) and spend the weeks focusing on that."

The Heritage Center, which had closed for the first time last January for other housekeeping projects, will close to get into cases that have to be open a little longer for bigger projects and cleanings, Fritz said. The museum will reopen in February.

"We'll be moving items out of second-floor cases for maintenance work that's being done in (the) military gallery," she said. "There may be some changes people notice when we open, including new items on display and additional text. We hope to reinstall our 'Cabinet of Curiosities' case in a new location early in 2024."

This year, the center has a Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant funded project for $32,500 in the collections area, in mostly the textile collections, for new shelving units, new oversized storage boxes and an intern from Wright State University to help with the rehousing project.

"The grant helped to better store the stuff that we have," Fritz said.

The center has had more than 10,000 visitors this year, compared to just under 10,000 last year and about 5,000 in 2021 amid the pandemic. They also track county versus non-county visitors when they sign in, and visitors range from about 15% to 20% coming from outside Clark County.

The Champaign County Historical Museum will also be closed the month of January, reopening on Jan. 28.

"We are currently closed to allow us to move the workspace, which is currently downstairs in our main gallery, upstairs. There were exhibits upstairs that we are moving downstairs," said museum director Cheryl Ogden.

Ogden said they are doing this to add a bigger meeting room space and additional exhibit space for an industrial and agricultural exhibit in the spring.

These projects are being paid for by donations from the public and a grant from the State of Ohio.

In 2023, the museum had more than 1,800 people visit, compared to 1,500 in 2022 and 1,100 in 2021.

Ogden said some museums or centers close in January due to that month having a lower volume of visitors.