LANSING – Admission to the Michigan Historical Center, the flagship of the state’s historical museum system, will remain free despite increasing financial pressures.

The Granholm administration has rejected a recommendation from the Michigan Historical Commission to institute entrance fees at the museum, a few blocks west of the Capitol. 

The proposed fees would not have applied to the state's 10 other historical museums, including those in Negaunee, Grayling, Roscommon, East Tawas and Bad Axe.

“Given the pressure on state revenue and the state budget, we’ve had to think about how to generate revenue,” said William Anderson, director of the Department of History, Arts and Libraries, which runs the museum.

“We might have generated revenue but we might have blocked attendance,” Anderson said.

A number of state historical museums have imposed fees to raise revenue, including the Wisconsin Historical Museum in Madison which collects a $4 "donation" from adults and $3 from children. The Indiana State Museum in Indianapolis and the Ohio Historical Center in Columbus charge $7 for adults and $3 for children.

The Michigan Historical Center is a popular destination for school groups and tourists. It drew about 135,000 visitors in 2005,  lower than in some past years, museums division Director Phil Kwiakowski said.

Sandra Clark, director of the Michigan Historical Center, said no decision had been made about the size of the admission fee, but the range discussed was $5-$6 per adult and $1.50-$2.50 per child.

“Does that mean there are children who can’t come because they can’t afford the fees?” she said. “And it is the state’s museum.”

The fees would have generated what Clark called “a tiny fraction of what it costs to run” the museum.

Greg Bird, the state Budget Office communications director, said his agency has asked all departments to look at ways to raise revenue, but that the proposed museum entry fees would “not be the best way” to do that, “especially with the number of schools and schoolchildren that come through that museum on an annual basis.”

The Historical Commission, which is an advisory body, didn’t recommend fees for the system’s other 10 museums, which usually operate from late spring to early fall.

In the Lower Peninsula, they are the Civilian Conservation Corps Museum, Roscommon; Hartwick Pines Logging Museum, Grayling; Mann House, Concord; Sanilac Petroglyphs, Bad Axe; Tawas Point Lighthouse, East Tawas and Walker Tavern,  Brooklyn.

Upper Peninsula museums are Fayette Historic Townsite , Garden; Fort Wilkins and the Copper Harbor Lighthouse, Copper Harbor; Father Marquette National Memorial, St. Ignace, and the Michigan Iron Industry Museum, Negaunee.

Most are in state parks where the Department of Natural Resources already collects an admission fee, Clark said. “We (the museum system) don’t get any direct thing from DNR but obviously DNR has responsibility for maintaining the exterior of the buildings and the grounds.”

Attendance varies. In the Upper Peninsula, for example, the Iron Industry Museum drew 7,732 visitors in 2005, while Fort Wilkins brought in 111,775.

Overall, visitation has dropped in recent years, Kwiakowski said, adding, “9-11 and gas prices have hurt all museums.

“We need to find more activities and involvement in the community to bring our numbers up,” he said.

Clark said the department is looking for alternative sources of money through its nonprofit fundraising affiliate, the Michigan Historical Center Foundation, which recently hired a part-time development director to seek private donations.

And the state archives, also run by the Department of History, Arts and Libraries, now charge a $15 fee to do research for individuals such as genealogists who phone for assistance. There’s no fee for people who do their own research at the facilities.

“We’re in a time when we try lots of ideas,” Clark said.

“This was one,” she said of the admission fee proposal. “We’re moving on to plan B and plan C.”