Kentucky Gateway Museum Center
Description: The Maysville and Mason County Library, Historical and Scientific Association was chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1878. Its charter provided for “the establishment, promotion, and preservation of an institute in said city (Maysville), uniting the advantages of a public library with those of a historical and scientific society…”
This 130+-year-old association, now serving the public through the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center and its research library, still has as its goals the same educational purposes for which it was originally chartered. They are twofold: 1 - to educate and serve the public as a resource/research center, 2 - to preserve and expand its collections in order to further enhance the educational process.
Target demographics: Initially the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center served only Mason County; it has now expanded to include Bracken, Fleming, Lewis, and Robertson counties in Kentucky and Brown and Adams counties in Ohio. Furthermore, because of its extensive research library, the Museum Center attracts visitors in many fields. Genealogists from throughout the United States use the facility. University doctoral candidates come to do thesis work. Property owners learn about old structures, as do archaeologists making studies of structures to be demolished or rehabilitated. Attorneys seek help on lines of descent or lines of property, historical charters, and regulations. Journalists work on investigative questions. The Museum Centers’ collections have become a respected and valuable source of information for a myriad of users seeking information unavailable elsewhere.
Direct beneficiaries per year: 13,000 - 15,000 visitors
Geographic areas served: Bracken, Fleming, Mason, Robertson, Lewis Counties in Kentucky. Brown and Adams Counties in Ohio.
Our Genealogical & Historical Research Library sheds light on the people and events of a seven-county area through an extensive collection of books, manuscripts and documents from the past 300 years.
Our Regional History Museum illuminates the past through award-winning dioramas, more than 4,000 regional artifacts and a gallery of fine art related to Maysville and Kentucky.
And our Kathleen Savage Browning Miniatures Collection looks at the world from a new perspective through mesmerizing, 1/12-scale reproductions of homes, furnishings, clothing, artwork and people.
