The Friends mission is to to encourage, foster, and assist Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas programs and activities by volunteering, fundraising, and promoting community interest in the museum.
Read Our 2020 Impact Report
Important Milestones
The Friends sponsor and participate in a variety of events and maintain a social media presence. The Friends are always on the lookout for new members and volunteers. See the “Join” page in the Header and become a member!
In 2020 we had to change directions due to the pandemic social distancing and lockdown requirements. Many of the social fundraisers scheduled for the year had to be cancelled. The Museum was closed most of the year and Friends monthly in-person meetings were cancelled. Many of us quickly became familiar with Zoom – whether we wanted to or not. Our meetings continued every month, but attendance dwindled due to the lack of social contact and the difficulties of Zoom.
We did refocus our fundraising activities on online activities. Once the lockdown eased a bit, we held several Dining Nite’s Out, whereby restaurants donated a portion of their receipts from people stating they were supporting the Friends. The restaurants moved quickly to include takeout and delivery orders in the fundraiser. That helped make them a moderate success. We also held two socially distanced paint parties at Pinot’s Palette. While they were moderately successful, everyone had a great time and created a masterpiece to take home.
For the first time we held an online donation drive to seek funds to purchase a number of items on a “wish list” created by Museum staff. The list contained everything from hand sanitizer, to gallery lights to taxidermy animals. Friends members exceeded all expectations and donated $5,960, which, with about $2,000 from the Friends general fund, allowed us to purchase almost all items on the staff’s list.
We also held, for the first time, an online silent auction. Again, we didn’t know what to expect, but were very pleased when Friends members bid almost $2,000 to purchase items listed on the site.
In addition to purchasing items for the Museum, the Friends were also able to install WiFi on the first floor of the museum so the entire building is now covered by WiFi. We also enabled the museum to move to a cloud version of PastPerfect which allows the staff to access museum files from anywhere. This is a great option when staff has to work from home due to COVID. We also purchased a new video system so that the staff could create higher quality content for online use by students and patrons.
In 2020, we were awarded our second OAG grant by the county. This $10,000 was used to :
- create two new Black History trunks
- create three new Animals of Nevada trunks
- purchase a cleaning system and supplies to sanitize trunks after each use
- purchase a 3D printer and supplies to be used to manufacture trunk parts
Additionally we were awarded grants from DRI (Desert Research Institute) and the Kasner Foundation to fund the building of Artifacts and Fossil trunks.
All in all, the year 2020 was very challenging for the Friends, providing a lot of new roadblocks, but also some great opportunities. We look forward to a fun 2021.
Our Founding
The Friends met in May 2016 to organize itself, led by the group’s founding president, Mary Savage. In June 2016, members adopted a set of by-laws and a board of officers formed. The group incorporated in early July 2016, and received its tax-exempt 501(c)(3) status from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service later the same month. The first issue of its monthly newsletter, the Friends Folio, came out Aug. 1, 2016.
Current Officers
President – Jim Parish
Vice-President & Secretary – Donna Harper
Treasurer – Kathi Thomason
Community Outreach – Michael Fong
Director – Dr. Teresa Thurtle
Museum Liaison – Josef Diaz
Founding Officers
President – Mary Savage
Vice president – Jon Howard
Secretary – Nick Dyer
Treasurer – Laura Eisenberg
Media officer – Joan Whitely
Charter Members
These are the 40 people who joined in 2016, the year that the Friends group was established
Jeff Alpert
Duke of Fremont Street
David Millman
Steve Alpert
Mary Gafford
Pamela Prim
David Bouyea
Alden Grant
Clyde Ruckle
Nancy Brady
David Grant
Jenni Ruckle
Camilla Camburn
Sarina Grant
Mary Savage
James Camburn
Diana Hill
Judy Schaffer
Barbara Ciocca
Ken Hill
Mark Schaffer
Diane Dizon
Jon Howard
Pamela Sitton
Ronald Dizon
Caroline Kunioka
Patricia Thacker
Nick Dyer
John Maxey
Michelle Tombari
Tom Dyer
Terry Maxwell
Margurite Walton
Laura Eisenberg
Karen McKenney
Dorothy White
Elizabeth Foley
Betty Miller
Sheila White
Joan Whitely