ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — At least three days a week, 13-year-old Quinn Witcraft stops by the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum in Rock Island to look at the dozens of documents it has on display.
"It's just like a really nice place to be. And the people that work here are super nice," Witcraft told News 8's Collin Riviello. "It has a lot of history. I'm really interested [in]."
Mobile Exhibit Coordinator Ann Reid says the museum has a lot to offer despite it's name.
"Most people, I guess when you say documents, they go, just sheet of paper. But when you start thinking about whose sheet of paper that was or where it came from, or its significance [or] the history, it's so neat to see," Reid remarked.
The museum features copies of documents handwritten by Rosa Parks, President Abraham Lincoln and more. Documents are changed out every four months.
But for a decade, there's been writing on the walls.
"When you go to a store or something and I'm wearing my nametag or somebody asks me where I work, and I tell them, people are like, 'I've never heard of that'," Museum Co-Director Margie Cain said.
She says some days, no one shows up despite admission being free and it is open six days a week. According to Cain, last year, the museum saw 1,916 people walk through its doors. Hosting wedding events in the church above the museum's main foyer helps to boost those numbers but without those guests, the number of visitors coming inside specifically for the museum's offerings drops to 1,441, or about 120 visitors a month.
Cain says there are a number of issues she thinks are at play, but the main one is the public's lack of knowledge the museum even exists.
"Some of it is just the exposure, we don't really have money for marketing," Cain said. "And so for people to find out about us, it's very hard for us to get our name out there. We have quite a few social media outlets that we regularly post on for people to know of exhibits as well as events that we're having. But it's very hard just to get that out there to just social media," Cain added.
And that's something even a frequent visitor and museum volunteer like Witcraft has recognized. When asked whether she's heard any of her classmates at school talk about the museum she said "nope".
"If there's one person then it's me," Witcraft replied. "It kind of bothers me because like, we all need to learn some sort of history. Because if you don't know anything then we're not gonna be able to learn."
And her favorite afterschool and weekend destination might no longer be there when she grows up.
According to Cain, the museum relies on donations ranging from $50-$150 a month; its operating cost is about 15 times greater at around $2,500. A majority of the bills are paid using funds from the museum's owners, the Karpeles family.
"They're [a] gracious family. And part of it is the fact that they are are wanting to be able to share the love of history and these documents with the community so that everyone can have the opportunity to be able to just have that [something that] interests them," Cain said. "One of the things that they would love to be able to do with each of the museums is for them to be able to pay for themselves."
Cain says if they want to continue operating in the future, the museum needs to be self-sufficient. But until that happens, staff can't start on dozens of repairs the century-old building needs such as fixing the ceiling in the church located above the museum. She estimates that will cost well north of $100,000. And a new boiler can't be brought into the church until the ceiling gets fixed.
"You know, I would love to have heat and air through the rest of the building," Cain said. "You know, I would love to see our organ fixed and, you know, we have [a] 100-year-old pipe organ that is just beautiful. We have stained glass which would be wonderful to be fixed too but all these things take a lot of money."
This means hosting weddings can only happen during Summer, but since it's also the museum's greatest source of donations, the staff is at an impasse.
"If we left, it would just become another empty building again," Cain added.
To find out more about the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum, you can view its Facebook page by clicking/tapping here. It is located at
700 22nd St. in Rock Island.
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