Cameron Mosaic created by NSHS Graphic Designer Anna Hayden-Roy
We re-opened the Capitol Gift Shop in June with a soft opening on May 30th and a ribbon-cutting on June 4th with Lt Gov Joe Kelly. A big shout-out to Theresa Sindelar, our Gift Shop/Visitor Services Manager, who led the team to make this happen. Since opening, the top selling items are Cookie Company cookies and Cameron the Cat products. For those not familiar with Cameron, he is a neighborhood cat that has become the unofficial mascot of the State Capitol. His guardian, Diane, has been very gracious in letting us use his image through our first Name-Image-Likeness agreement! Our in-house graphic designer, Anna Hayden-Roy, has created an image of Cameron inspired by the mosaics on the floor of the Capitol rotunda and will be the basis of our merchandise line. In the meantime, we are featuring Cameron post cards, greeting cards, and t-shirts by local artists Scott Shafer and John Shaw. Please stop by the gift shop when visiting Lincoln and the State Capitol. I think you will be amazed at the job the team did in getting it organized and ready for you.
We are also planning a 30th Anniversary celebration of the Gerald R. Ford Conservation Center in Omaha which will occur on October 17th. The Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation has partnered with us to help underwrite the celebration and it looks to be a grand affair which will include guided tours of the objects, paintings, and manuscript labs, as well as cocktails, and heavy hors-d’œuvres in Paxson Hall. That same day will be the NSHS Board of Trustees meeting in the morning and the NSHS Annual Meeting in the afternoon with the celebration event to follow later in the afternoon and evening. I hope you will consider attending those events. We may also have a pop-up gift shop and our curators showcasing some interesting objects from our collection. We will be sharing more information as we get closer to the date and I look forward to meeting many of you at the meeting and the celebration.
