The Dubuque County Historical Society (DCHS) was recently awarded $23,850 in operating support from the City of Dubuque Arts and Cultural Affairs grant program. This funding will support DCHS’s two museums, The National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium and the Mathias Ham Historic Site, in its efforts to provide programs, exhibits, and outreach to nearly 200,000 individuals in fiscal year 2026.
Since 2005, the City of Dubuque Arts and Culture grant programs have awarded $4.3 million in support of local arts and culture organizations that advance the work outlined in the City’s Arts and Culture Master Plan, to create a vibrant community of choice. This program is intended to increase the Dubuque community's access to a wide range of diverse arts and culture experiences that cultivate creativity, learning, and participation in Dubuque’s arts and culture landscape.
As a steward of local and regional history, the cultural institution has become a key community partner for humanities-based programming and informal learning. Serving local, state and national audiences, DCHS’s goal is to curate exhibits and programs that best capture regional stories that are tethered to the global perspective, engage diverse audiences in immersive educational learning, and provide an equitable and accessible atmosphere in which all visitors can fully engage.
About the Dubuque County Historical Society
The Society’s mission is to inspire stewardship through educational experiences where history and rivers come alive. It fulfills that mission through dynamic interpretation and exhibition of historical artifacts and archives as well as through the conservation and preservation of these historic treasures. The Society was formed in 1950 as a private, non-profit organization with a focus on oral and archival history. Since that time, its collections have grown to include more than 41,000 historical items, many of which are on display at DCHS properties—the Mathias Ham Historic Site and the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium.