Because of the current novel coronavirus / COVID-19 crisis, the Mill Museum (Windham Textile and History Museum) remains TEMPORARILY CLOSED for many of our normal activities. We can best be reached via email at themillmuseum@gmail.com, or by telephone at (860) 617-4354, which is our Executive Director’s cell phone. We will continue to reevaluate the situation, and will update the following guide as things change.

As of Sept. 5, 2020:

* Virtual tours, exhibits, and other great stuff online: OPEN. We will continue to bring you history on out website and through social media. We continue to add new material daily. Click on the green buttons above for shortcuts to favorite new postings. Or go exploring under “History” in the menu at the top of this page. Or visit us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/WindhamTextileandHistoryMuseum/ (@WindhamTextileandHistoryMuseum for those of you on FB).

*Research and consultation online: OPEN. Have questions about mill or textile history? Want to talk to a staff member? Our staff and volunteers are available, either in the Museum or (for most of us) working from home. Contact us via email at themillmuseum@gmail.com or by telephone at (860) 617-4354. (The phone number is our Executive Director’s cell phone.)

*Accepting donations of artifacts for our collection: OPEN. For folks wanting to donate items for the Museum’s collection, email us at themillmuseum@gmail.com. We will arrange to meet you safely outdoors in our parking lot. Our staff will be wearing masks. We will complete necessary paperwork via email.

*Volunteer activities at the Museum: OPEN. The Museum is open on a limited basis for staff and volunteers working on various projects. We will be practicing safe social distancing, and providing PPE following Connecticut State Guidelines for office environments. Staff and volunteers planning to come into the Museum should contact Jamie Eves, Executive Director, at themillmuseum@gmail.com or (860) 617-4354.

*Outdoor group tours: OPEN. On Labor Day, Monday, Sep. 7, at 5:00 p.m., the Mill Museum will host its annual outdoor Labor Day strike reenactment. We will be reenacting the Oahu Sugar Strike of 1920. Bring homemade strike signs, dress as farm workers (optional), cloth masks and social distancing are required. The Setting: 1920, Oahu, Hawaii. The Players: The Maui Sugar Corp, 8,300 multiracial workers, and labor unions. The Story Line: Living expenses had gone up but wages had not. Workers were destitute. They demanded a pay increase of $.77 to $1.25 daily wages for males, and $. 58 to .90 daily wages for females. One dollar in 1920 is valued at $13.00 in 2020. This will be a safe, outdoor, socially distanced reenactment. Meet outside the Mill Museum, 411 Main Street, Willimantic, CT, 06226. Parking is available in front of the Windham Mills across the street. (Image below is from last year’s strike reenactment.)

*Indoor group tours: Although we are CLOSED for normal tours, we will be OPEN for special Hallowe’en tours coming up in October: “Nightmare on Main: Monsters.” Click here for more information.

*Indoor individual tours: CLOSED.

*Indoor events and programs: CLOSED.

*Gift Shop: ON LINE ORDERS ONLY
https://millmuseum.org/online-store/.

The Museum’s current temporary exhibit, “Unlacing the Corset, Unleashing the Vote,” originally scheduled to end in September of 2020, has been extended through the end of May, 2021. When we reopen, it will be here for you to see.

Our history belongs to us, not to a virus, and the Mill Museum will do its best to bring it to you. We look forward to seeing all of you when we come out of this.