Help Us Preserve History

As a private 501c3 non-profit, we are not funded by the state or county. We are funded by grants and private donations from people like yourself. We greatly appreciate your support, and the support of all those who help to further the Harmon Museum and the Warren County Historical Society's mission to conserve, preserve and present the heritage of Warren County, Ohio.

Monetary Donations

Your donation is made through a direct, secure, online contribution. You may pay using your credit or debit card. After the transaction, you'll be emailed a receipt to use for your tax purposes. If you have any questions, please feel free to call us at 513-932-1817. And again, your support is greatly appreciated!
Donation Location


Tribute Gift

Honor the person you love by ​helping the museum they love. Give on behalf of someone, commemorate a milestone or honor the memory of a loved one; tribute gifts are a wonderful way to celebrate the most important people in your life. You'll be asked about the person for whom you are donating before your donation is submitted.

IRA & Charitable Donations

Tax benefits include more reasons to support the Harmon Museum.

Did you know that, if you are at least 70 1/2 years old, you can make tax-free charitable donations directly from your IRA? By making what's called a qualified charitable distribution (QCD), you can benefit your favorite charity while excluding up to $108,000 in 2025 from gross income. These gifts. also known as "charitable IRA rollovers," would otherwise be taxable IRA distributions. For more information, please use our contact form below

Physical Donations

Members and non-members alike donate artifacts to our museums. If you have something, may it be art or artifacts you find important to the story of Warren County, we'd love to be its new home. Just call the office at 513 932-1817 and tell us what you'd like to donate.

​Free Ways to Help

In addition to a direct donation, please consider these easy, no-cost-to-you ways to support the Warren County Historical Society. For more detailed instructions, click here or visit the links below and search for "Warren County Historical Society" in Lebanon, Ohio.

Areas to Donate

Beedle Log Cabin

The 1795 Beedle Log cabin has been completed and the oldest log structure in Warren County has been saved! With the inclusion of a Shaker herb garden, paved walkway and educational resources, we have a display that preserves our local history for generations to come. Help ensure we have the funds to keep this historically significant structure safe.

To learn more about the Beedle Log Cabin, click here.

Harmon Museum

Endowment

The life's blood of Harmon Museum and the Warren County Historical Society. Most major expenses come from here.

Exhibits

Whether it is the cost of bringing in a special exhibit to the museum or to display artifacts we currently have, our exhibits are important to us. That's why we're always looking for new and innovative ways to present Southwest Ohio's cultural heritage from Pre-Historic to Mid-Century Modern.
Picture
The traveling exhibit, the American Revolution Experience. We were the first stop on its tour across America.

Children's Educational Programs

As a nonprofit organization, our museums provide transformative learning experiences for children and families in our community and beyond with our exhibits, school tours, award-winning History Camp, Frontier Fun days at the Beedle Log Cabin, and other special children's classes hosted at Harmon Museum.

Conservation

Some of the items we are entrusted with are one of a kind and priceless. Donating Money here will help us to continue to conserve the historic treasures we have in our climate-controlled vault. It will also help us to preserve and/or restore new items gifted to us that are in need of some love.
Picture
Historian and Educational Director, John Zimkus, directs a school tour.

Mary W. Klei Research Library

For over 80 years, volunteer librarians and archivists have recorded historical and genealogical information for our library. Named for our long-time Harmon Museum curator, Mary W. Klei, our library archives include materials on the Shakers and Union Village, National Normal University, local churches, court records, photos, atlases, cemetery records, local newspapers, birth, marriage, and death records. The Mary W. Klei Research Library is a wonderful source for researching your family, property or Warren County and Ohio history.

New West Entrance

When Lebanon Public library offered us shared access to their new parking lot behind the buildings, we immediately made plans to build a new handicapped accessible entrance to both Harmon Museum and the Armstrong Conference Center. However, for the first time in many years, we had to secure a mortgage to complete the project.
Picture
The west entrance soon after completion in 2016.

Signage

We've spent a lot of time upgrading our exhibits spaces and are in the process of labeling them the way they should be labeled.

Self-Guided Audio Tours

We are working hard to make history more accessible to everyone. One of the projects we would like to begin is a self-guided tour system much like you find at the Cincinnati Zoo. This way, those that have trouble reading or those that prefer not to, can listen to the history as they examine the artifact, collection or exhibit.

The Gene V. Chute Artist-In-Residency Program

A two-week residency period where the selected artist will lead a variety of public programs including lectures, workshops, classes for teachers and families, and in-school visits to grades K-12 for six Warren County Schools. Mediums include: Painting, Ceramics, Sculpture, Print, Photography, Film/Video Productions, Acting, Music, Textiles.
Picture
A display on our mezzanine.

"Wheels of Time" Sculpture

The "Wheels of Time" is a sculpture by John Koepnick; or at least it will be! Help us see this work realized. and placed on display in our rotunda.

Other Harmon Museum Projects

We're always finding new and innovative ways to present our shared cultural heritage.
Picture
The "Wheels of Time" Prototype

Armstrong Conference Center

The Armstrong Conference Center is located next door to Harmon Museum, and was Lebanon's Post Office until it moved to its new location on New St. This beautiful building is home to our Quarterly Flea Market, Lunch and Learn Lectures, Black Bag Bingo and other events. It also acts as a Conference Center rentable for events, parties and weddings. We keep the price low to provide a nice space for those on a budget and have had nothing but positive feedback from those that have held their special events here.