In July 2000 the Minnesota Zoo opened the Wells Fargo Family Farm to focus attention on the past, present, and possible future of the Minnesota family farm. Since that time, millions have visited the farm to learn about our farming heritage.
An interpretive exhibit and program plan, "Dakota Native Plant Garden", was designed and developed for outdoor display. The exhibit uses the stories from several generations of a Dakota family who originally lived along the shore of Mde Waka Ska (Lake Calhoun). The stories reveal the ethno-history of the Bakken's restored wetland and prairie. This area contains more than 40 species of native plants historically used for medicinal and cultural purposes.
To offer new arts and cultural heritage programming at the Fillmore County Fair. Funds will be used to install a historical exhibit, host a bluegrass performance, and being a project that documents fairgoers experiences through interviews and photos. The project is meant to bridge the past and the future by helping local community members appreciate local history and share their own story for generations to come.
To capture the experiences of several generations of Kittson County war veterans, six individuals with direct combat or combat support experience, were interviewed. The transcriptions of each first-person narrative were printed and are now part of the Kittson County Historical Society permanent archives. Supplemental materials including photographs and additional information were used to highlight each story and to bring the reader deeper into the stories. A presentation notebook was created and a copy presented to each interviewee.
The Minnesota Digital Library (MDL) is a statewide, multi-institutional collaboration that supports discovery, education and personal enrichment through digitization of and access to the rich historical resources of the state's public and academic libraries, archives, museums and historical societies, while also preserving these resources for future generations.
MDL partnered with:
* 180+ organizations through Minnesota Reflections, a premier searchable, online collection of primary source materials of more than 51,000 photos, maps, journals, letters, works of art and more.
* In association w
With the approval of many ACHF projects and partnerships that include a component of enhanced online access to Minnesota Historical Society information and materials, the Society needed to increase the capacity of its technology platform.
This funding enabled the Society to help deliver web development services, and to purchase servers and equipment to meet the increased demands created by the ACHF programs.
Here are examples of three web sites created through this project that allow the general public to learn about other ACHF-funded history projects:
To reconstruct interment records of the Lone Oak Lutheran Cemetery, a subscription service-cemetery software developer was contracted to manage cemetery records. The cloud-based solution is economical, saving on hardware costs and data storage. The yearly subscription saves on periodic high-cost upgrades. A new updated cemetery map was also generated by the service. After cross-checking the data it was entered as planned. The cemetery information has been shared with the Dakota County Historical Society, making it more accessible to the public.
