In 2006, Ramsey County Historical Society (RCHS) purchased an additional 1.5 acres of the original Gibbs farmstead located adjacent to the existing Gibbs Museum property in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. This purchase provided the impetus for updating and expanding the interpretive programs at Gibbs Museum of Pioneer and Dakotah Life and creating a new master plan and landscape plan for the Museum.
A total of 961 linear feet of archival quality shelving was purchased and installed in the "vault" area and the College Archives storage room at Gustavus Adolphus College. Old, used shelving was re-purposed for use in other areas of the college. The installation of this shelving has alleviated overcrowding, provided a safer more secure storage environment and consolidated the collections to one location.
To make the Cathedral of St. Paul archives more accessible to the public, the Cathedral heritage foundation undertook a two-step project to sort, organize, inventory and file their collections. The first step involved general cleaning and the reorganization of materials. All materials were re-housed in archival storage units. Inventory information was entered into PastPerfect. The second step of the project focused on the recruitment and training of volunteers folow up on and continue the new preservation/storage best practices.
Phase two of a project to improve intellectual control of the stored 3-D collections by contiuing the partial-inventory of artifacts. During this phase of the inventory 2,155 objects were recorded making the total number recorded so far 4,461 or approximately 18% of the objects to be inventoried. Information garnered during the process will aid the determination of the amount of storage needed and the supplies necessary for proper storage and preservation. Once complete, the inventory will aid exhibit planning and creation.
The RCHS determined to gain intellectual and physical control over their historical collections documenting Ramsey County.
PastPerfect software was purchased and installed, and training was received by staff. An inventory technician was hired and trained to apply the software using best practice inventory methods. 2,306 artifacts (9% of the total inventory) were recorded and catalogued. The daily information was backed up and stored offsite.
The Council on Asian-Pacific Minnesotans and the Humanities Center’s “Arts & Cultural Legacy” program will educate, highlight, and promote understanding of the arts and cultural heritage of Asian American and Pacific Islanders for all Minnesotans. The Program consists of 3 elements 1) capacity building via the Artists Fellowship Program and the Asian Pacific Youth Council; 2) print and media via the creation of books for young readers; and 3) arts programming.
Composing and recording traditional Hmong song poetry now that I'm in the third phase of my life, focused on my responsibilities as an old man, a grandfather. I want to do an album of song poetry about the things I am leaving behind. My voice is not as young or as handsome as it once was, scarred by time and circumstances, I now sing with an older man's tones. But even this is valuable for the human experience.
The Council on Black Minnesotans and the Humanities Center will coordinate a Cultural Relations Summit for Minnesotans of Africans descent. The summit will celebrate culture traditions through instructional demonstrations, guided tours, and visual arts; plan for cultural institutions’ sustainability; and strengthen cultural connections through DNA technology. A web-based cultural portal and a video documentary on the contributions of Minnesotans of African will discover and preserve cultural traditions and enhance relations in Minnesota.
To gain intellectual and physical control over a significant historical architectural drawing collection documenting the built environment of Rochester
The Equity Alliance MN will bring to life absent narratives of Latino, Hmong, Native, Asian, African American, and women of the Civil Rights Era in a collaboration among youth, social studies teachers, Full Circle Theater (FCT), and St. Paul Neighborhood Network. The narratives, researched by youth, will be transformed by FCT into a six person play that will be presented, video recorded, and distributed with accompanying curriculum written by social studies teachers for teachers across the Equity Alliance MN and the state.
The ESNDC developed a 39-minute audio/video tour of the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary, a distinctive natural landscape on the Mississippi River floodplain on St. Paul's East Side. Experts were asked to advise on the project and then narrate a specific tour stop using their expertise to comment on aspects of its ecological history and/or cultural value.
The tour was publicized on the Lower Phalen Creek Project website, on the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary Facebook page and in the local nespaper.
The Chicano Latino Affairs Council and the Humanities Center will build on the grant received last year, which was intended to identify the elements of success in programs for Latino high school students and ways to replicate them. Applying the findings of CLAC's and HACER's research, CLAC will integrate its biennium goal of improving levels of educational achievement for Latino youth with the Legacy goal of enriching Minnesota’s cultural legacy by piloting the program in two Minnesota schools.
The Cannon River Watershed Habitat Complex Phase IX program will protect approximately 150 acres in fee, and restore and enhance approximately 93 acres of high priority wildlife habitat within the Cannon River Watershed, including wetlands, prairies, Big Woods forest, and river/shallow lake shoreline. Its goal is to reverse habitat loss, prevent degradation of water quality, improve watershed function, and provide public access.
The Cannon River Watershed Habitat Complex Phase VII program will protect in fee and restore approximately 220 acres of high priority wildlife habitat within and near the Cannon River Watershed, including wetlands, prairies, Big Woods forest, and river/shallow lake shoreline. Its goal is to reverse habitat loss, prevent degradation of water quality, improve watershed function, and provide public access.
This program will protect ~510 acres and restore ~200 acres near Cannon River Headwaters including wetlands, Big Woods forest, and river & shallow lake shoreline to reverse habitat loss, improve watershed function, and provide access
The Cannon River Watershed Habitat Protection and Restoration Program will protect approximately 275 acres in fee, and restore and enhance approximately 181 acres of high priority wildlife habitat within the Cannon River Watershed, including wetlands, prairies, Big Woods forest, and river/shallow lake shoreline. Its goal is to protect existing high quality habitat, restore degraded habitat, prevent degradation of water quality, and provide public access.