Fire at the Gulfport History Museum – Here’s how to help, City of Gulfport, Fl, Boca Ciega Bay
After this tragedy, the Gulfport Historical Society can certainly use our help to keep their important educational and environmental work going, see https://cruisersnet.net/173192. See below for how to help. Gulfport Municipal Marina, A CRUISERS’ NET SPONSOR, and the City of Gulfport always have a full calendar of events for all ages. The marina and harbor, found on the northern shores of Boca Ciega Bay, are easily accessible from the Western Florida ICW, just north of Tampa Bay.
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What a day this has been.
This morning, we had a fire at the Gulfport History Museum.
Most importantly, no one was hurt. This is the thing we must bear in mind as we move forward. No. One. Was. Hurt.
It could have been far, far worse. The quick actions of the Gulfport — and St. Petersburg — fire department spared most of the building as well as paper records and photographs. They risked their lives to save our town’s history this morning — if they hadn’t been so quick to act, everything would be lost. As it stands now, it looks like our main historic losses are the historic Shuffleboard Club sign and the Gulfport Historic Register sign (we’ll know more after the investigation is complete and we can conduct a full assessment). These things are not replaceable, and their loss is real and tragic.
Thanks, too, to the Gulfport PD for being on hand, assisting and apprehending a suspect.
We also want to thank everyone who stopped by to tell investigators what they saw, extend their sympathy and join with us in our communal heartbreak. We also want to thank representatives from Gulfport Beach Bazaar and Stella’s, and councilfolk Paul Ray and Christine Anne Brown, who wanted to see how they could help — along with countless others we’re probably too addled to properly thank.
We were touched by all of your support, and also by the number of people asking how they could help. Thank you for the special trip you made to tell us you wanted to help; your kindness to us and reverence for our history touches us.
Finally, we want to thank the city staff who came in before 8 a.m. on their day off to help us with debris clearing and securing the museum. Your dedication to this community means more to us all than you will ever know.
We don’t know what lies ahead, but we’re still here. We’re just a little… charred… right now (here are some photos of what the inside of the museum looks like, and for those of you not in town, what damage the outside suffered).
We’re seeing a lot of talk on social media right now, about arson and who it might have been. Please remember the important things: no one was injured, the losses could have been far greater, and mental illness is a disease. It is our most sincere hope that if it was arson, whoever set the fire — for whatever reason — is able to get the help they need in a safe place. Our hearts break for them and what must be happening in their head.
While we can’t replace the historical items that were lost, we can take steps to further protect our records. Since Hurricane Irma swept through town almost one year ago exactly, we’ve had some big discussions on how to safeguard our town’s history.
What we know we need to do: We need to digitize all our photographs and records — which include historic maps, charts, property information, historic records of construction, property tax records, the Seabreeze and Gulfport Tribune… the list goes on and on. Quite frankly, it’s overwhelming to think about what needs to be done, in part because it’s beyond our immediate ability to do so.
There are, of course, services that can do this — Olive Software has met with us (along with the head of the library, David Mather) about digitizing the collection. They’ve done this for other local groups — take a look at how they’ve archived Dunedin’s records and made them searchable.
This is the most prudent course of action for the Gulfport Historical Society. It will keep our history preserved in perpetuity, safe from any act of nature (or person), and it makes it accessible to people not within striking distance of the physical museum. That means those of you who don’t live in Pinellas County would be able to look at all our records and pictures — and search them to find exactly what you wanted to find — anytime you wanted.
So what’s stopping us?
Excellent question.
Money. It’s all about money. To take the whole of our paper records and images, digitize them, give us a digital copy and maintain an online searchable database of Gulfport’s history is the best possible thing we, as a society entrusted with safeguarding the town’s history, could possibly do. However, the price tag is somewhere between $25,000 and $30,000.
Right.
We’d discussed hiring someone to do development to raise the money, but that’s not something to be taken lightly and the board hadn’t yet voted on this. So many people have asked us today, “What can I do?” it seems the best response we can give you is this:
Donate so we can afford to digitize our history. Insurance money will replace the porch. We can find great porch furniture somewhere (the last set was donated), and there’s nothing we can do to replace the two artifacts we lost today (and, again, how blessed were we to only lose two? Thank you so much, Gulfport and St. Pete firefighters), but we’ve now dodged two potentially devastating bullets: Hurricane Irma and the Labor Day Fire.
The third time, as they say, is the charm. That’s why we’re asking you to donate in case we aren’t lucky one more time. We don’t care if it’s $20,000 or 20¢; every penny helps.
Every. Penny. Helps.
You have trusted us with your history but we need your help to keep it truly safe. Please help preserve Gulfport’s history. Donate here.
We cannot do this without you.
I’m certain, in a week or two, our brilliant board will come up with donor gifts and rewards, but right now, tonight, it’s important we get your donation. It’s important we start to move forward on what we need to do — save Gulfport’s history for the future. This is why I’m asking you — without artifice, and without any glossy sales pitch — to please, please help us avoid losing everything.
Thank you for your support. As we say so often — and we mean it — we cannot do this without you.
Thank you, Gulfport.
Cathy
Cathy Salustri Loper, President, Gulfport Historical Society.
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5301 28th Avenue South
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