Expansion info to be shared at gala

VW independent staff/submitted information

The Brumback Library in Van Wert will be the site of this Friday’s kickoff gala for the Van Wert County Historical Society’s planned expansion project.

The initiative will establish a new state-of-the-art facility at the VWCHS’s campus at Washington St. and Third St. that will serve as the permanent home for David Humphreys Miller’s nationally recognized “Faces of Little Big Horn” collection. It will also house a comprehensive genealogy research center dedicated to preserving Van Wert County’s rich historical and family records. In addition, the expansion will include a flexible community meeting space designed to host educational programs, rotating exhibits, and public events, further connecting the past with the present.

The kickoff gala will begin at 6 p.m. Friday and guests will be able to enjoy an exclusive first look at the new building plans and learn more about the $1.5 million fundraising campaign. The evening will also feature select works from the Faces of Little Big Horn Collection, created by Van Wert native David Humphreys Miller, who spent the 1930s and 1940s traveling across the Great Plains to interview and paint 72 survivors of the Battle of Little Big Horn.