Support the Museum

The American Maple Museum is a non-profit that runs on volunteer labor, modest admissions and gift-shop revenue, the annual pancake breakfast tradition, and the generosity of individual donors. If you've visited the museum and want to help keep it open for future visitors, there are several ways to do so.

Make a Donation

Donations of any size are gratefully received and put directly to work supporting the museum's operations:

• Building maintenance for our historic former-school home
• Exhibit preservation and renovation (an ongoing, room-by-room process)
• Acquisition of new artifacts as they become available
• The audio narration system that anchors the self-guided tour
• The Hall of Fame induction ceremony and its associated programs
• Educational outreach to schools and community groups

To donate, send a check made payable to "American Maple Museum" to:

American Maple Museum
P.O. Box 81
Croghan, NY 13327

Or contact the museum at [email protected] to discuss other ways to give. The museum is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, and donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Become a Member

The museum offers an annual membership program. Members receive:

• Free admission for the year (typically a savings over the standard $5 adult rate for active visitors)
• 10% discount in the gift shop
• Advance notice of pancake breakfasts and special events
• Invitations to the Hall of Fame induction weekend's open-house events
• Membership card and recognition in the museum's annual donor list

Membership levels and current rates are available by contacting the museum directly.

Volunteer

The museum is run almost entirely by volunteers — local maple producers, retired educators, regional historians, and community members who care about preserving and sharing this story. New volunteers are always welcome and are a core part of how the museum operates.

What Volunteers Do

• Front-desk and gift shop — greeting visitors, taking admission, helping with gift-shop purchases. Two-to-four-hour shifts during museum hours, summer season.
• Docent tours — leading guided tours for visiting groups (training provided). Schedule by appointment, usually weekdays in the early season.
• Pancake breakfasts — cooking, serving, setting up, cleaning up. Roughly monthly events from May through September.
• Exhibit work — helping refresh and rebuild exhibits during the off-season. Year-round, by interest and skill.
• Hall of Fame induction weekend — the largest single volunteer event of the year; we need help across many roles.
• Building maintenance — for volunteers with construction, carpentry, or general handyperson skills.

How to Volunteer

Contact the museum at [email protected] or call (315) 346-1107. Tell us a little about yourself, what kind of volunteer work appeals to you, and what your availability looks like. We'll match you with current openings.

Donate an Artifact

If you have a maple-syrup-related artifact — equipment, tools, photographs, documents, ephemera — that you'd like to find a permanent home for, please contact the museum before disposing of it. Items we are particularly interested in:

• Sugaring equipment from before 1950
• Historic maple syrup containers (tin pails, bottles, crocks)
• Sugar molds
• Photographs of sugarbushes, sugar houses, or maple producers at work
• Documents — production records, ledgers, business correspondence, association records
• Logging-related artifacts from the same regions and eras

Donations of artifacts can sometimes also qualify for tax-deductible appraisals. Contact the museum to discuss.

Corporate & Foundation Support

The museum welcomes corporate sponsorship and foundation grants for specific projects — exhibit renovations, educational programs, the Hall of Fame induction weekend, and capital improvements to the building. For sponsorship and grant discussions, please contact the museum directly with a description of your interest.

Why It Matters

The American Maple Museum is one of very few institutions in North America dedicated solely to the history of maple sugaring — a tradition that has shaped the landscape, the economy, and the calendar of an entire region for centuries. Without small, persistent, volunteer-driven institutions like this one, that history quietly disappears. Your support — in any form — helps keep it from doing so.