In the past, Brooking himself paid for many artifacts to build the collection. After his passing, the Museum occasionally was given money to purchase items but the frequency declined over the years as the budget has become tighter. We have enjoyed some significant donations of money for the purpose of buying items for specific areas [...]
When Albert Brooking started collecting, his main goal was to make sure he collected the past history before it was lost. He was less concerned with how many of a type of item he had and often took people’s hobby collections such as ear trumpets or salt and pepper shakers. Today, we continue to collect [...]
It is hard to determine an exact number for each artifact because some items need more care and protection than others. However, on average it costs the Museum between $80 and $100 to process each new item donated to the collection. This includes the staff time to document, clean, number, and create a storage container, [...]
In the early years of the Museum, the founder, Albert Brooking, collected just about anything. Many items were donated, a few were traded for, and some were purchased out of Brookings own money. This practice filled two school buildings to the brink as well as the original Museum building. In recent years, we have become [...]
