In 2023, the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum was awarded a $150,000 matching grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).
WWPL needed the funding for infrastructure repair that was identified in 2020, specifically to replace the 30-year-old HVAC system that heats and cools the Manse, the building in which President Woodrow Wilson was born in 1856 in downtown Staunton.
After completing every step of the challenging process to spend the funding, including abiding by the Davis-Bacon Act to pay employees of the contractor fair wages, following requirements for interior renovations according to the National Historic Preservation Act and abiding by the Build America Buy America Act (BABA), part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, installation of a new HVAC began in late February to replace a system that was reaching end of life.
A properly and efficiently functioning HVAC system is essential for museums like WWPL not only to protect collections and archives, but to ensure the safety and comfort of visitors.
WWPL President/CEO Robin von Seldeneck said that as the museum followed requirements to obtain the funding, the process revealed the Manse did not need as large of an HVAC system as originally considered so some of the grant funding had already been returned.
“That’s the beauty of this grant — is that it allows small organizations like ours to be able to take care of our grounds and our buildings,” von Seldeneck said. “It’s really hard to get funding. It’s really hard for me to talk with a donor and get anyone excited about just pure infrastructure. People will donate to programs, but it’s really hard to find people who will say: ‘yeah, I’ll replace your new HVAC system.'”
Fortunately for the museum, the bulk of the work to install a new HVAC was completed by early March just before staff learned that the federal government had pulled the grant funding. The museum received an email from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) out of the usual protocol that correspondence would have been received from the NEH. Von Seldeneck said the situation changed so quickly, that the museum did not even have a chance to follow-up with NEH personnel before they were placed on administrative leave from the federal government.
“I think priorities of this administration have changed,” she said of federal grant funding. “And, what we had applied for may be different. The priorities that we wrote the grant under may be different than the ones that are available now.”
Organizations like WWPL do not have a rainy-day fund in case such a situation develops. If the HVAC system had not already been installed, the museum might have been out thousands of dollars it could not afford and/or been left with a Manse that was not heated or cooled for visitors.
If the COVID-19 pandemic taught WWPL’s staff anything, von Seldeneck said, it taught them to remain nimble and flexible for different possibilities and have a backup plan, so they were able to bounce back from funding being pulled by the federal government.
“That’s how we are moving forward. So we have our backup plan. We think that when people come here next year, even to see the partial things that are done, that they will be really excited to see the updates and the changes,” von Seldeneck said. “It’s just not going to be all at once, which is what we had hoped.”
The only harm done is that WWPL’s staff had upheld their end of the bargain to obtain the grant funding while the federal government later revoked the funding without cause.
“We just went into a contract with the federal government in good faith,” von Seldeneck said.
Also, WWPL did not have a chance to install convenience details with the new HVAC system, such as SMART thermostats.
The museum was hoping that federal funding would enable staff to create new exhibits for July 2026: America’s 250th Anniversary celebration. Only half of an original plan is possible now unless substantial donations are obtained.
Von Seldeneck said that the museum regularly applies for federal grant funding and the application process is very competitive. Yet, WWPL received five grants in the last three years, including two during the COVID-19 pandemic. WWPL was the only organization in Virginia awarded both particular grants that allowed the museum to switch from in-person to online operations for school education programs and virtual live tours of exhibits and the Manse.
“It allowed us to continue operating even though we weren’t physically open for a certain period of time,” von Seldeneck said. “And, then, even after we opened, people weren’t coming and the numbers [weren’t up], so we didn’t have the revenue coming for admissions.”
Grant funding is beneficial for WWPL, but American museums traditionally receive a small percentage of funding from the government, as little as 3 cents per taxpayer per year.
The situation has left von Seldeneck and staff with concerns for grant funding possibilities, the museum’s future and its place within American society. Museums and libraries in the United States are not politically based but in 2025 they are affected by politics.
“We never tell someone how they should feel about anything [on display at WWPL or the information shared],” she said. “If you come on a tour, you look at our exhibits, our goal is to be as objective as possible, give the facts and so that when a person leaves here, they’re making up their own mind [on topics related to Wilson and World War I].”
Replacing the HVAC system in the building where Wilson was born so that it is safe and comfortable for collections and visitors does not involve anything political.
“There’s just nothing that should be politicized about that,” von Seldeneck said.
The work done at museums like WWPL, von Seldneck said, is important and worthy of grant funding, because America is so politically divided from a lack of knowledge about historical education and how the country got to where it is today.
“And we are paying the cost of thinking that history museums are fun, nice-to-haves. We are essential to democracy, we’re essential to having a unified country,” von Seldeneck.
Virginian students are still educated about the fact that Virginia was the country’s founding colony and later became a state, but von Seldeneck finds that most American students cannot describe American history between the American Civil War and World War II.
“If you look at who we are today as a country, that period is where we are now, and, if you don’t know that information, how are you supposed to improve upon something or fix it or understand why it was put in place in the first sense?”
Much of what von Seldeneck hears in today’s news, she said she can give examples from when Wilson was president.
“It’s all right here [at WWPL],” she said.
Collections and archives such as are at WWPL provide evidence of American history, including diary entries about the motivations and ideals of high-profile figures, their decisions and their actions. Such evidence is not open to political interpretation.
“History is not something that was just written once and then you put it away. History evolves. We learn new things, we’re finding out new things all the time,” von Seldeneck said. “Whether it’s from archeology or DNA testing. There are so many different tools we have now as historians that we didn’t have even 25 years ago.”
The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum is at 230 E. Frederick Street in downtown Staunton. Donations are welcome online.
Related stories:
Augusta County: ‘Little impact’ due to federal funding freezes
Judge awards injunction to clean energy grant recipients, unfreezes federal funding
Share
Rebecca Barnabi
