A project to future-proof Middlemarch Museum will allow it to continue to document the past.
Strath Taieri Community Board chairman Barry Williams said the board on Thursday agreed to give Strath Taieri Historical Society $775 to produce a World War 1 exhibition at Middlemarch Museum.
The board also agreed to give $1725 for the museum to create a conservation plan.
Society secretary Anne Elliot was ''absolutely ecstatic'' the board had granted the money.
The money would help pay for Otago Museum staff to complete a conservation plan to prioritise the work needed in the next three to five years so the museum collection in Middlemarch would not deteriorate.
The museum building was built in 1924 as a Masonic Lodge and damp was a problem.
The society bought the museum in 1980.
The society members could not guarantee items given would not be damaged by the damp.
The plan would allow the society to prioritise the work to keep the collection safe.
The money would be used for the exhibition At Home in Middlemarch during WW1 to print large display boards create labels to explain how people living in Strath Taieri supported the troops during WW1.
The exhibition opens on October 23.
