WARREN COUNTY — Local historical societies and museums are fighting to not fade into the past as they face increasingly bleak funding and financial struggles.

The Warren County Historical Society, which operates a museum in Lebanon and promotes several community outreach programs based around the area’s history, has been operating with a $30,000 deficit for the past two years, according to museum director Victoria Tappy.

The deficit is the result of drops in revenue from several areas, Tappy said. While five private corporations used to give the historical society $5,000 or more each, that number has dried up to one, costing the historical society $20,000 annually

The group’s key fundraiser — a semi-annual antique show — had seen a dramatic decrease in attendance in recent years as well.

“The people who do come still buy, but while our antique shows used to draw 4,000, now we get less than half of that,” Tappy said.

The loss of revenue is a trend affecting many historical societies statewide, said Jackie Barton, who heads the Ohio Local History Alliance, an association of local historical societies and museums. Although the group has not conducted a formal survey of its members’ finances, Barton said many groups are facing struggles with the bottom line.

“Those that were lucky to have an endowment were hit pretty badly in 2008 and those funds have yet to come back,” Barton said. History organizations that rely on public funding have also been hit, she said.

The Mason Historical Society, for example, recently suffered a blow when the Mason City Council decided to halve its annual contribution from $8,000 to $4,000 in 2011.

Barton said she knew of four countywide historical societies, including the Butler County Historical Society, that have had or will have all public funding cut.

Regardless, Mason Historic Society president Judy Cox is optimistic about the future.

“The money Mason gave us was always a matching grant, meaning we had to raise an equal amount ourselves,” Cox said. “We still have fundraising and membership dollars in place.”

The organization, which has operated since the 1970s, has more than 200 members, Cox said. A key to its financial stability is the use of an entirely volunteer staff.

Meanwhile, the Fort Ancient Museum, located on the site of prehistoric American Indian ritual grounds, is a bright spot in the otherwise bleak world of historical society finances. Fort Ancient is operating in the black for the first time in its 120-year history, according to director Jack Blosser. The park, which was created in 1890, did not charge admission fees until the 1970s. Until two years ago, it was financed through state funds but then moved under the umbrella of the Dayton Society of Natural History (which also operates the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery and the Sunwatch American Indian sites in Dayton) in 2008.

“We’re happier than a possum in a garbage can,” Blosser said.

Blosser attributes the success to an increased push at fundraising as well as networking with other public and private tourist attractions in the area.

Among Fort Ancient’s cross promotion tactics have been a partnership with a private canoe operation in hosting a local triathlon and being a featured attraction on the neighboring Ozone Zip Line adventure. A recent plan involved connecting Fort Ancient to Camp Ozone via zip line but that plan remains on hold after an injunction was filed by a conservation agency.

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4544 or jmcclelland@coxohio.com.