Inside the Weis Earth Science Museum in Menasha, October 3, 2024. PC: Fox 11 Online
MENASHA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A resolution from Winnebago County is calling for the sale of the UW-Oshkosh Fox Cities campus.
Outagamie County would sell its half of ownership to Winnebago County for $1. The resolution also notes the Weis Earth Science Museum, which opened in 2002, may move its collection to Appleton.
“We’ve been very concerned that those assets would be picked up and leave the Fox Valley, and the History Museum wanted to see if we had a role in trying to preserve those locally,” said Dustin Mack with the History Museum at the Castle in Appleton.
Mack says they’ve been in discussions with Winnebago and Outagamie counties to receive the Weis’ collection via donation.
Not everybody is on board with the potential relocation put forward by the Winnebago County Property Committee. That includes Dr. Don Mikulic, a curator at the Weis.
“Well, this is in contention because we don’t want to move, and we’re best served by staying here,” he explained. “We work very closely with the Barlow Planetarium, we have lots of school groups share tours and stuff.”
Mikulic said the museum space was built specifically for the Weis collection and would sit empty if they move. It would also mean a lengthy cataloguing effort.
“You have to go through the entire collection, take each specimen, wrap it up accordingly, check it off in an inventory, pack it up and move it. That takes professional people a long time. We have 20,000 or more specimens here. That’s going to take weeks, if not months,” Mikulic said.
Mack said that while timing is not set in stone for the move, “We’re optimistic, and we’re hopeful that we’re going to be able to repurpose these exhibits and have them on display at some point this summer, or by next fall for sure.”
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