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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

21 April 2008, Audubon, Pennsylvania – The Museum of Missing History (MOMH) today announced some of its early successes and the launch of a second stage in its growth including a fundraising campaign.

The number of visitors to the MOMH website (museumofmissinghistory.org) has recently been averaging more than 100 per day, up from 62 per day in March.  “Our website traffic is tiny by most standards,” says Martin Murphy, director of the Museum, “but we’re very pleased to be drawing this many hits with little promotion and no press.”

Another important measure of success is the connections that the Museum makes.  Already the Museum has connected a leading Degas scholar in California with a woman in England who remembers seeing Degas bronzes in Beirut, Lebanon before the civil war there.  And a private collector has been able to share some of his most historically important pieces anonymously with scholars.

 “It’s like a rocket,” says Mr. Murphy.  “The first stage was building the beta version of the website and proving the concept.  This was done with just me, a few volunteers, and what money I could afford to put into it.  Now that the concept is proven we’re ready to take it to the next stage.”

The first priority of any fledgling nonprofit is fundraising.  The Museum is seeking donors, both large and small.  “The bottom line here is that we need everyone’s support, whether it’s $5 or $5,000.  Big donors and foundations want to see that an organization has support before committing their big bucks.  To them, 100 small donations can say more to than one large donation.”

MOMH is also reaching out to anyone who has information about which historic objects are missing and their stories.  The Museum has only 21 entries in its Catalogue of Missing Objects “out of the thousands of stories of missing historic objects,” says Mr. Murphy.  “That’s why we need the help of students, scholars, and enthusiasts to pull together the information about what’s missing.” 

The Museum of Missing History is the museum of the mysteriously missing pieces to the puzzle of the past.  We tell the stories of missing historic objects and their discoveries.  MOMH also offers educational materials based around the quest for and discovery of missing history.

Contact: Martin Murphy
               martin@museumofmissinghistory.org.

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