Dear Community Leader:

I want to share with you some of the exciting programs and accomplishments the Studebaker National Museum has enjoyed during the last year. Since the opening of our new facility in late 2005, the museum has experienced unprecedented growth in number of visitors, new members and tour groups and we continue to receive rave comments about the artistic quality and ambience of the function areas as well as the exhibition galleries.

All quality nonprofit organizations need financial resources to help achieve their goals. The Studebaker National Museum needs your help to make memorable experiences for all who visit our world-class industrial heritage museum and help us conserve the collection for the enjoyment of our own and future generations.

The purpose of this letter is to ask you to contribute to a fund that will be used for conservation treatment of eight National Treasures vehicles. The museum is the recipient of a federal “Save America’s Treasures “matching grant in the amount of $168,900 for the conservation treatment. Our operating budget is limited and unable to cover the required match. We have succeeded in raising about 20% of the amount—enough to cover treatment of the Abraham Lincoln carriage (the very one he rode to Ford’s Theatre the night he was assassinated) which will be completed in time for the bi-centennial celebration of his birth that begins in February 2008.

The eight National Treasures, including the Lincoln carriage, are the carriages owned by Presidents Grant, Harrison, and McKinley; an 1825 carriage purchased by the U.S. Government as a gift to the Marquis de Lafayette; two award winning Studebaker wagons built for the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago; and an innovative vehicle built in 1909 for use in the tunnel connecting a Senate office building with the U.S. Capitol building.

The eight vehicles suffered the debilitating effects of heavy use by their original owners, as well as the harm of amateur repair work, unstable display and storage environments, and general neglect over a long period of time. Each vehicle has a wooden body and leather components that are severely dehydrated. The damage to fabric, including convertible tops and seat upholstery ranges from tearing to complete disintegration and inlaid woods and metals have come loose from vehicle bodies. Conservation treatment requires varying degrees of professional cleaning and stabilization by a widely-recognized expert firm located in central Pennsylvania.

It is a wonderful opportunity we have to leverage federal dollars so that $337,800 worth of required conservation treatment can be completed on these precious and indeed, priceless vehicles.

Without the stabilization, better environmental conditions of the new museum facility will only partially prevent further decay. If allowed to happen, continued damage ultimately will force the museum to place the vehicles in specialized storage, out of sight of the visitors and researchers who treasure them.

Your past contributions have been critical to our success and we hope you can see your way clear to give $750 or more to support the conservation of these National Treasures. Of course, any gift will be deeply appreciated.

Thank you for your support of this wonderful institution.

Sincerely,

Mark McDonnell
President of the Board of Trustees

P. S.    Your gift to the Studebaker National Museum is fully tax deductible.