Local History Education Outreach
Partner: Southwest Minnesota State University
Southwest Minnesota State University and the Minnesota Historical Society are teaming up to assess the needs of social studies teachers in Southwestern Minnesota, what resources are available in their community to help them teach history and how they can effectively be connected to those resources. A 2009 education outreach survey showed a significant demand for training local history educators and enhancing their direct contact with their local schools and teachers. Three proposals for partnerships between schools and local history organizations were selected for pilot programs in the fall and winter of 2012–13. In Fairfax, a teacher from Prairie Lutheran School is partnering with the Fairfax Historical Depot Museum. Students choose an object, research how it was used in their local history, interview community members and display their findings with the object. In Luverne, the Rock County Historical Society and Herreid Military Museum are working with high school students to collect oral histories of veterans to be displayed with a larger exhibit at the Herreid Military Museum in 2013. Pipestone Public Schools are partnering with the Jeffers Petroglyphs historic site. The students have visited the site and will receive follow-up visits from Jeffers Petroglyphs staff throughout the year to continue the connections with that site.
History Partnerships. $1,500,000 the first year and $1,500,000 the second year are for partnerships involving multiple organizations, which may include the Minnesota Historical Society, to preserve and enhance access to Minnesota's history and cultural heritage in all regions of the state.