Minnesota History Player: Maud Hart Lovelace (Laurie Johnson)
The program will help people reacquaint with Betsy Tacy and life in Minnesota in the early 1902. The program will raise awareness of the library and what it can offer to the community. The program will also encourage people to read the Betsy Tacy books and other historical books. Anecdotal responses will be collected.
Many expressed gratitude for having the opportunity to attend a performance by a history player. Living in Southwest Minnesota, we rarely have the opportunity to visit the history center and see performers who work at the museum. The participants were happy to "get to know" Lovelace through the performance of the player with many of them commenting on how she brought her character to life and made her feel like a real person. They loved the interaction she had with her audience, at one point having several ladies come on stage and act out a scene from Maud's life. They also have a better understanding of what it was like to live in Mankato during Maud's childhood, commenting on how her childhood was so very different from their own.
The Ivanhoe Community Center provided the space for the program.