Dear Tim and other listers:

I guess it depends upon how many shovels you need.   A museum with which I
was previously associated in Mississippi, had their groundbreaking 10 years
ago.
They used 200 shovels so that all major donors were given one as a souvenir.

A board member in Louisiana who owns a hardware store and a patio shop gladly
donated the shovels, gold paint, and the black printing on the shovels with
the museum's name on each.    Let's say these nice ACE Hardware shovels cost
at least $15 each, then that's $3000 for the shovels,  at least $75 for
enough gold paint, and the cost of printing or vinyl letters, let's say
another $200 ($10 per shovel, at least) for a grand total of $3275.

The museum at the time had no operating budget.   It was all volunteer run.
Today, it operates on about a $200,000 per year budget not including special
projects with a skeleton staff (e.g., parttime registrar, no curator).  It is
a small museum that runs several facilities, mostly with volunteers.   Ten
years ago, or even today, $3,275 is a significant amount money for that
museum located in a rural area.

I guess things are more affluent in Kentucky.

Cordially,

pamela sezgin

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