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Funding source to change for Museum of Ceramics
The ceramics museum has been in operation for 28 years.
EAST LIVERPOOL — The Museum of Ceramics could be closed in just over a month.
The Ohio Historical Society has announced plans to end funding for the museum May 30.
Sarah Webster Vodrey, the historical site director at the facility, has turned to Columbiana County commissioners for help.
Commissioners, in turn, passed a resolution asking the historical society to continue funding to give local officials time to come up with long-term financial support and a local management plan.
That’s exactly what the OHS wants.
The letters are to be sent to officials including Gov. Ted Strickland, the state historical society and federal and state legislators.
Vodrey said that three positions — two full time and one part time — would be cut. That would include her position.
Vodrey said, “What’s more important is the continuation of the museum.”
The facility at 400 E. Fifth St. is in a former post office that itself is an architectural marvel, she said. The museum has been in operation for 28 years. “It’s beautiful,” she said.
The museum has been receiving $114,000 a year from the state.
The museum brings in “a few thousand” visitors each year, Vodrey added. That includes people from other countries.
Those visitors, she said, also go to area potteries that still make and sell ceramic wares.
Vodrey said she wants to create “a new life for the museum.”
The museum already charges admission — $7 for adults and $3 for children.
But Commissioner Jim Hoppel said, “A 100 percent loss is a pretty deep cut.”
Kim Schuette, a spokeswoman for the state historical society, said that it is facing a $2 million deficit and has to make cuts. “It’s a soft economy,” she added.
The OHS has about 25 locations that are run under a partnership with a local group, such as is being proposed for East Liverpool.
The state historical society, which is technically a private, nonprofit corporation, still has to take care of certain state duties, such as keeping records, Schuette said.
wilkinson@vindy.com