The Harbour House Museum, 17 N. Fourth St. in Crystal Falls, opens for the season Sunday. The Crystal Falls Museum Society Board has made several changes at the museum, including new displays and relocating museum archives from City Hall. Here, Barbara Luck, museum society board president and secretary, sorts through a box of donations with assistance from her shih zhu puppy, Elle. (Iron Mountain Daily News photo)

CRYSTAL FALLS — Changes are happening at the Harbour House Museum in Crystal Falls.

The first item on the Crystal Falls Museum Society Board of Directors’ agenda was to relocate all of the archives from the basement of City Hall back to the museum.

“Everything has been moved with the exception of two shelves containing issues of the Diamond Drill,” board president and secretary Barbara Luck said.

The newspapers will be stored in a room at Charlie’s Emporium — owned by Luck — so they can be kept safe in a constant temperature year-round.

Many issues of the Diamond Drill have not been digitized, so until they receive grant money or other funding to do that, they need to preserve the fragile newspapers as best as possible.

“They will remain there until we determine if we will be able to keep the museum’s heat on during the winter months,” she said.

Luck stressed how grateful they were to have the city’s help as they delivered all the heavy items into the new home.

The museum’s library room, which is on the first floor, was converted back to the archive room. “We want to be a working museum,” she said. “This will allow the community to come during open hours for research and can get assistance if needed.”

This also allows easy access to material, which is needed by board member Michelle Smokevitch, vice president and treasurer, for print or document requests.

“We still need to get organized, as we are learning as we go,” Luck added.

Another valuable improvement is implementing their new PastPerfect Museum software. “Michelle is a computer whiz — she will be doing all our requests and entering of each accession,” she said.

They are also in the process of changing up the exhibit rooms. “Guests have seen these same displays for the last 20 years — it’s time to recycle,” Luck said.

With archives now in place, they started going through storage boxes and discovering things they didn’t know they had. “It’s exciting to find these hidden gems,” she said.

They will take a long look at each accession to determine if it represents Crystal Falls. “We will be doing a lot of analyzing,” she said. “It’s important to know its history and why it’s here.”

This process will take some time, she added, as the attic is completely full.

They already have plans to expand its veterans, mining and logging displays, as well as the area’s first settlers. “It’s fascinating to look back and see how Crystal Falls has evolved with the time,” she said.

Luck also wants to see women portrayed more in the museum.

She added that Smokevitch had a great idea to make a video of the second floor available for those unable to climb steps. “This area is unfortunately not handicap accessible, so this would be a way for visitors to see all the exhibits on the second floor,” she said.

The board wants to keep the museum open year-round, as shutting down in winter is not helping the old building, she noted.

The first repair they are addressing is a new roof on the 1904 mason-constructed home.

They need volunteers as well, Luck said, including additions to the three-member society board. Anyone interested in becoming involved with the museum can contact Barbara Luck at 913-433-8858 or email cfharbourhouse@gmail.com.

Fundraising plans are still in the works, as they have been focused on the move and reorganization. However, they recently completed a cookbook that contains more than 350 recipes from a compilation of Crystal Falls cookbooks from the past, which will be sold as a fundraiser.

“We have a bucket list of ideas and things to do,” she said. “We can’t say we will get them all done, but we will have fun doing them.”

The Harbour House Museum, at 17 N. Fourth St., will be open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday through Sunday. They will open its doors for the season Sunday.

“We eventually would like to be open at least four days a week,” Luck said, “and include some evening hours as well.”