The Putnam Museum and Science Center receives Destination Iowa grant

The Putnam received a $900,000 grant from Destination Iowa to go toward its multi-year plan of making the Putnam "a museum of the modern era," according to Putnam President and CEO Rachael Mullins. 

"We will host visitors from nearly every state in the nation and nearly a dozen countries around the world," Mullins said. "So that visit to the Putnam really does represent for a lot of our visitors and their experience of the Quad-Cities region and of Iowa. I think the gift really recognizes the role of the Putnam in that broader kind of promotion, as message bearer for visitors." 

The funds, announced March 9 by Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Iowa Economic Development Authority as part of more than $26 million allocated in the final round of grants, represents 23% of total project investment, or almost $4 million. 

Mullins said the entire campaign, called Putnam Reimagined, carried the price tag of $7 million, more than half of which has already been raised. Over the next several years the museum will introduce the following:

• Galleries showcasing Quad-Cities history, innovation and material culture.
• Experiences focused on families and how they impact people's lives.
• Upgraded education and science galleries.
• New façades and visitor wayfinding tools.
• Improvements in technology and infrastructure.

Most of the funds raised by the Putnam so far have been received through foundations and other grants, Mullins said, helping the museum get the matching dollars needed to get the Destination Iowa money. The museum will continue to raise funds locally while rolling out advances in the project, of which the parts funded by Destination Iowa should be finished by the end of 2024. 

One milestone in the Putnam Reimagined campaign is already close to being rolled out after its announcement in late 2021. The updated regional history exhibit, formerly named "River, Prairie and People," will open April 15 with new artifacts, stories and more.

"It's exciting to see some of these projects actually coming to life while we're out raising funds," Mullins said.  

Christina Kastell, curator of history and anthropology at the Putnam Museum, has been working on prepping artifacts to rotate through new exhibits. She and the Putnam staff and partners have been working to bring in stories of all people, and they are changing the regional history exhibit to be more topic-focused than chronological. 

Community partners like the Native American Coalition of the Quad-Cities are operating as guest curators, having helped Kastell craft informational signage to ensure the wording is accurate and respectful. It's been a wonderful experience to have their perspectives influence how the new regional history exhibit will turn out and eventually change, she said. 

"It's easy for me to do the history of it, but it needs to be the words of the people whose history it is," Kastell said. 

These updates will help the Putnam fulfill its goals of contributing to the culture of the Quad-Cities, investing in youth, drawing in visitors and business to Davenport and the region and project Iowa's image positively to the world, Mullins said. Part of reaching these goals is to broaden the experiences people can learn about and find at the Putnam. 

"I think we're evolving into that institution that really wants to be able to assure that every one citizen will see themselves at the Putnam and see themselves as a part of the community through that experience," Mullins said.