All Projects

To document perceptions of identity and legacy through 15 oral history interviews with residents of a Jewish long-term care system in the Twin Cities.  The project focused on capturing quickly disappearing histories from people who grew up in Minnesota’s immigrant communities or came to Minnesota as Russian immigrants or Holocaust survivors.   

To offer history programming at the Kittson County Fair. A local retired doctor will perform a narration on the different machines used to plant and harvest crops, in addition to the stages of farming during pioneer days. The fair will also host a lumberjack presentation and a historical farm safety exhibit.

To enhance the existing performance stage, install six “farm museum” murals produced by a local high school, and offer several programs promoting northern Minnesota’s agricultural heritage. Koochiching County Fair has updated their performance stage to have the capacity to offer several arts performances including a barbershop quartet, a robotic puppet show, a dogsled demonstration, and an antique machinery display. In addition to offering performance art shows, the fair has installed several murals created by local children celebrating the areas local agricultural history.

To continue increasing access to arts and cultural heritage activities held in the Lake County Fair's arts building by purchasing a sound system and enhanced lighting for the stage.

To offer arts and cultural heritage activities at the Lake of the Woods County Fair. Programming will include steel drum band demonstrations and a cooking demonstration.

In the second phase of an oral history project, Life in Lake Sarah, four additional residents were interviewed and recorded. The recordings were transcribed along with two earlier interviews. The six recordings were compiled in booklet form and added to the permanent collection of the Murray County Historical Society.

Affordable transportation is one of the biggest barriers for schools' ability to plan field trips to Minnesota Historical Society sites and museums.

By June 2011, nearly 600 schools across Minnesota will access the Society's Legacy Field Trip Support Fund, which means more than 50,000 students will be able to learn about history through field trip experiences they otherwise might have missed.

The Legacy Field Trip Support Fund will help an estimated 39,000 Minnesota students experience field trips at Minnesota historic sites and museums statewide in FY12 and FY13. The high cost of transportation prohibits many Minnesota teachers from taking their students on field trips. The Legacy Field Trip Support Fund offsets transportation costs to all of the Minnesota Historical Society's 26 museums and historic sites statewide. Eligible schools are reimbursed $3 per student.

This project documented the history of life and growth of Lake Sarah Township population amid regional population through the stories and recollections of its residents.  A total of eight long-term residents were interviewed. Six interviews were transcribed and provided to the narrators for proofreading.  The edited transcripts were printed as separate full-color booklets that, along with the CDs of the interviews, will be accessible to the public as part of the Murray County Museum's permanent collection. 

To enhance fairgoers experience of arts performances by adding a backstage curtain to the stage. Funds will also be used to feature arts demonstrations by the Milan Village Arts School, and the Iron Will dogsled exhibit.

A 38-minute documentary video was produced to capture and portray the diversity and vibrancy of the Lincoln Park/West End neighborhood and its history from the late 1880's to 1950's.

Research was conducted for the local churches, schools, businesses, events and the Park. Seven interviews provide insights into the life and times of area residents.

The video was made available to the public via the Duluth public television station, through community showings and at the Public Library.

To provide events that highlight local culture and history. The Grant County Fair will feature the Iron Will dog sledding exhibit, host a performance by a local band, have a wool spinning demonstration, and display a seed sack exhibit.

To offer new arts and cultural heritage programming at the St. Louis County Fair. Programming will include performances by Irish Dancers, a Native American pow-wow, children's theater, vaudeville, and music featuring a barbershop quartet, gospel, and Americana songs.

To offer a Minnesota history experience through exhibitions by the Timberworks Lumberjacks. Fairgoers will have an opportunity to learn more about logging history in Minnesota and watch demonstrations of crosscutting, log rolling, chopping, tree climbing, etc.

Twenty oral history interviews were collected from residents of Isanti County from the cities of Cambridge, Grandy, Braham and Isanti. Their memories of the business community in their respective cities were the focus of the interviews. They were videotaped, roughly transcribed, copied to DVD's and a video sampler was posted on Youtube. The video collection was presented, along with artifact displays at an exhibit opening called "Let's Meet at the Soda Fountain".

A qualified historical architect was contracted to prepare a Historic Structures Report for the Marine Village Hall in downtown Marine on the St. Croix. The Hall, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, has served as housing for government offices since it's 1888 construction. The completed Report provides the building history as well as a comprehensive analysis of its structural integrity. It also provides professional guidance for assessment and prioritization of future preservation efforts.

To provide an environmentally educational performance to fairgoers. The Martin County Fair will welcome the band “Vocal Trash” to their stage. Vocal Trash is a band that performs using instruments constructed of recycled materials and plays songs emphasizing the importance of recycling, reusing, and upcycling through song and dance.

To add and enhance arts programming in Martin County. Funds will be used to hire art instructors to lead hands-on pottery, painting, and weaving workshops. Supplies will be provided for child and adult participants. Funds will also be used to enhance stage lighting.

The Minnesota Genealogical Society (MGS) purchased three microfilm cabinets and two cases of microfilm storage boxes. The existing microfilm collection has been made more efficient, accessible and secure. There is also increased storage capacity for the future growth of the collection. The new cabinets have been placed on the MGS library floor.

A two year backlog of weekly Scott county newspapers, including the Shakopee Valley News, Jordan Independent, Belle Plain Herald, New Prague Times, Prior Lake American and the Savage Pacer were microfilmed by the Scott County Historical Society. A volunteer organized the newspapers by city and date, bundled them by year and created the microfilm targeting sheets. The newspapers were then boxed and sent to an outside vendor for microfilming. Negative and positive 35 mm master prints were made of the microfilmed newspapers.

Minnesota Statutes from 1982-1996 were scanned and with the help of OCR (optical character recognition) software, were made available and searchable on the Revisor's office pages of the Minnesota legislature's web site. This is the first phase of the scanning Minnesota Statutes project.

This online availability improves access to legal materials, previously available only through books. Online versions of the statutes also serve as a preservation method for these records.

The Will Steger foundation initiated the documentation of Will Steger's collection of journals, media and images found in a wide variety of formats and locations. A professional archivist was contracted to conduct a basic artifact inventory. The objects were then prioritized for cataloguing and digitization. The collection has been consolidated and the inventory record established. This is phase 1 of 3 for the project; "A Minnesota Hero: Preserving the Will Steger Story".

The LeSueur Public Library purchased 60 standard Minnesota history books to be distributed to the 9 libraries in their system. These books were immediately put on display and into circulation. A brochure was created for each library branch that listed all the titles purchased with the grant. A Facebook posting further announced the availability of the newly purchased books.

The Minnesota History Bookshelf grant enabled the Carver County Library to add 47 new volumes of Minnesota History to their history collections. These volumes are housed primarily at their largest branch in Chanhassen and their newest branch in Norwood Young America. The primary purpose in adding these new volumes is to enhance their existing collection of Minnesota history books for History Day students using their Chanhassen Library and to create a more accessible location of Minnesota history books for residents living in western Carver County at their Norwood Young America branch.

The Library needed to build a more robust collection of Minnesota history books throughout all nine branches that would support it's programs.  There are several specific content areas for programs including the Civil War, diversifying populations, environmental heritage and cultural heroes and institutions.  227 items were purchased and made available at all nine branches of the Washington County Library System either directly in the collection or by delivery to the branch.

To enhance exhibits of local artists' work by improving lighting in Mower County Fair's Creative Arts Building. Additional natural light and new spotlights will help artists highlight their work.