HERstory Gallery Flood Support

The Michigan Women’s Historical Center and Hall of Fame, housed downtown Lansing, suffered a fairly devastating flood the first week of January due to a city water main pipe bursting. Thanks to a handful of strong volunteers, we were able to act quickly and move our collection out to a safe, dry place. The museum (known as the HERstory Gallery) is reopening on August 26, 2021 and will be open Tuesdays & Thursdays, 12:30-4:30pm beginning after Labor Day.

The artifacts in the museum are one of a kind and irreplaceable. We are working with several museum experts to try to assess the damage and salvage as many damaged pieces as possible. Take a moment to view the video of Meaghan Bergman, the HERstory Director, to hear about what happened and what to expect moving forward:

How to help:

Volunteer: We know you’re here because you care about women’s history and the Michigan Women’s Historical Center and Hall of Fame. If you’d like to volunteer to help with putting the museum back together once the building is ready, please reach out to Meaghan Bergman by emailing mbergman@miwf.org

Make a donation: One of the big dreams for the museum has always been to digitize our exhibits, ensuring that we can never lose these important pieces of women’s history. This flood has shown us just how important- and urgent- digitization is to keep the Michigan Women’s Historical Center alive. Please consider helping us start this effort by making a donation of any size today- every donation helps us preserve Michigan women’s history.

Make a donation to help the museum

The flood soaked many precious, one-of-a-kind artifacts

Water extended through the whole building- here ‘s what it looked like in the museum gift shop.

Here’s an example of an artifact that was badly damaged by the flood.

Luckily, many artifacts were posted on the wall and inside of glass containers. These have all been moved to a safe location.

Some installations were damaged only on the bottom. This exhibit which explores women’s right to vote will need to be replaced.

Make a donation to help the museum