Last year I wrote a newsletter article detailing how 2016 was going to be a year of transition for SLHF. It is hard to believe that 2016 is now behind us and 2017 is in full swing. SLHF accomplished a lot in 2016, but Pareto's Principal is now in play or so it seems.

 

A refresher on Pareto's Principal also known as the 80/20 rule. Per Wikipedia, the 80/20 rule been applied to a variety of economic case and other scenerios. For examples: 80% of your business will come from 20% of your customers; 80% of your complaints will come from 20% of your customers. In our case, it seems like we are spending 80% of time finishing the last 20% of several different components from last year. Some of those components are referenced below.

 

SLHF and the City of Sugar Land have been jointly designing a Heritage Museum / Visitor Center concept for the second floor of the former container warehouse. The locations for the conference room, break room, offices, and storage area have been determined. The entry area and common use areas are almost designed. Much progress has been made in blending the perspectives / missions of these two entities. At the same time, each facility can fulfill its respective purposes.

We also have been jointly working on an operational agreement that puts into writing how all the functions needed will work. The agreement also seeks to address a variety of scenarios. I would venture to say that we have spent 80% of our time tweaking out the last 20% of changes.

Another component underway is the design of the SLHF exhibit space itself and the first exhibit to be built within the design. The overall design has been through a couple of iterations and is good for now. The first exhibit will be a time-line exhibit covering the following era:
The Prehistoric: before 1820, 
Early Settlement: 1821 -1836,
Early Development: 1837 - 1908,
Company Town: 1908 - 1959,
Modern Era: 1959 - current

Most of our effort is being spent on deciding how much space/displays and what details we will include for each era.

Storage space in the new building will be 750 square feet with a 14-foot ceiling. We should be able to stack items high, but it is unlikely we can  get all the stuff that we have into that space. That may not be all bad because a number of items do not need to go forward. For example, office furniture, etc. from the 1990's / early 2000's is not needed.
 
So how do you determine what goes forward and what does not? The obvious solution is to sort through all the items. This is a long process and easy to get bogged down. The intent is not to rent offsite storage, it is too expensive. I would bet that some of you have an offsite storage unit that you have paid for several years and the value of the items kept in the storage has been exceeded by the rent that you have paid. Becky and I fell into that trap a few years back. This project remains as one of if not the most difficult task that we must complete!

 

Last year we made the decision to keep our interim museum open during the transition. But this year is different, we made the decision to close the interim museum and focus on the future museum. It was a bittersweet decision. It was sad to close the interim museum after 5 years but exciting to focus even more on what is coming.

 

On the horizon: the move into the new space, the building of our first major exhibit, the displaying of artifacts and other items to tell the Sugar Land story, a capital campaign, and a grand opening.

 

Now is great time to volunteer at SLHF. We have existing programs that could use your talents and time. Regardless of your age or station in life, we have an opportunity for you to become a part of the Sugar Land Heritage Foundation.

 

The mission of the Sugar Land Heritage Foundation is to inspire community pride by collecting, preserving, communicating, and celebrating the history of Sugar Land, Texas. Come join us, contact us at 281-494-0261 or visit our website at www.slheritage.org 

 

Regards,

Dennis