RICHMOND (AP) — The Museum of the Confederacy has forecast a profit for the first time since the early 1990s, but it is still investigating a move out of the former capital of the Confederacy.
Last fiscal year, the museum was forced into cutbacks after finishing with an operating loss of $389,000. The museum was closed on Wednesdays, its magazine was cut from four issues to three, and an annual journal was discontinued.
“We’ve been saying … we are going to have to close,” said S. Waite Rawls III, the museum’s president and chief executive officer. “Now we can say we’ve won an important battle. But the idea is to excel, not just survive.”
The close of fiscal 2007 is June 30. But Mr. Rawls said he won’t know the final profit figures for a few months and that even a small amount would be a huge improvement.
The museum has rebounded in membership, with 1,100 members added since last year. That brings the numbers to a record high of about 4,000. An emergency fund drive raised about $1 million, which allowed the museum to reopen on Wednesdays, brought back the journal and increased publication of its magazine to four times a year.
“Our members heard the cry and stepped up,” Mr. Rawls told the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Still, annual visitation continues to decline, dropping from 48,000 last fiscal year to about 46,000.
With hopes of boosting attendance, the museum is continuing its search for a new home for its collection. Museum officials announced in October that they were seeking a new home for the world’s largest Civil War collection to escape the steady expansion of the medical campus of Virginia Commonwealth University.
Mr. Rawls said the board has a list of about 10 potential sites, including Lexington. The goal, he said, is to keep the museum in Richmond, something local history buffs favor. The adjacent White House of the Confederacy will remain where it has stood since 1818.
Mr. Rawls said he hopes a final decision will be made by fall.
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