Team Key Marco Cat

Help Bring The Cushing Artifacts Back To The Island

The Marco Island Historical Society (MIHS) is on a quest to bring home the cat — the world famous Key Marco Cat — discovered on Marco Island in 1896 by Smithsonian anthropologist Frank Hamilton Cushing.

Nearly half of a $350,000 fund-raising goal has been raised to underwrite the costs to bring home on loan the Key Marco Cat and other rare Pre-Columbian Native American artifacts discovered by Cushing.

(A240915) Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution

Courtesy of Penn Museum, Image # 298908

Courtesy of Penn Museum, Image # 298907

Courtesy of Penn Museum, Image # 298906

Courtesy of Penn Museum, Image # 298886

Several of the most significant artifacts will be brought together again on Marco Island for the first time in more than 100 years for an exhibit at the Marco Island Historical Museum (MIHM) that will run from December 2018 to April 2021. The Smithsonian Institution and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology are loaning the rare artifacts.

Now, you are invited to participate in bringing home the precious feline by joining “Team Key Marco Cat,” and making a donation.

“This truly is the year of the cat,” notes MIHS Executive Director Patricia Rutledge. “We want the whole community to have an opportunity to participate in this exciting time in the history of Marco Island and Southwest Florida.”

For additional information on how you can support the return of the Key Marco artifacts, call 239-389-6447.

You may also donate right from this page. We use PayPal, a safe and secure method of payment. If you have a PayPal account, Click Here to be taken to the PayPal Giving Fund Page. 100% of the donations made through the Giving Fund go to The MIHS.

If you don’t have a PayPal account, simply click on the “donate” button below. You will be taken to the PayPal Home Page where you will click on the link under “credit cards” and complete the transaction using one of the approved credit cards. It will appear on your credit card statement as “PayPal*MarcoIsland”. You will also receive a confirmation receipt via the e-mail address you specified.

When you’ve completed your transaction, close the PayPal window to return to the MIHS Website.

Thank You!