Bonanzaville Receives Federal Grant to Help with Inventory Organization

Bonanzaville leadership says they have about 30,000 artifacts in one particular building that are in desperate need of sorting and cataloguing.

WEST FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) – Bonanzaville has received their first-ever federal grant, aimed at helping the historical society organize a huge surplus of artifacts.

The grant is a three-year funding injection from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Right now, Bonanzaville holds an estimated 30,000 artifacts in an external overflow storage area known as Building 16.

The grant money has been used to hire a full-time project manager, with aims to use it to also bring on a full-time seasonal assistant and a professional management consultant.

Bonanzaville staff says this funding allows them to set aside the necessary time to take on such a massive project.

“That has been a place where things have gone when there’s nowhere else to put them, so there’s a little bit of everything out there,” said curator Charlotte Stoddard, in reference to Building 16.

“We’re gonna have more resources and more time dedicated to actually going through 16 and seeing all the artifacts,” said project manager Casey Young. “I’m really excited.”

Staff will catalogue and reorganize the items over the course of the next three years.

After that, they hope to make improvements to Building 16 itself so they can keep the items safer and better-preserved.