This exhibit, on view May 23-Aug. 16, 2015, featured the Ebony Fashion Fair traveling fashion show that began in 1958. Over the next 50 years the fashion fair blossomed into an African American institution that raised millions for charity and helped the Johnson Publishing Company
To rehabilitate the Old Settlers’ Cabin on the fair grounds. The Kandiyohi County Fair will replace shingles on the cabin, which was built in 1926 by the Old Settlers’ Association. The cabin is both a historic structure and houses county artifacts.
The Oliver H. Kelley farm in Elk River is a National Historic Landmark, where visitors experience mid-19th-century Minnesota farm life. This historic structures report provides the foundation for future maintenance and preservation of the farmhouse while continuing to provide an important level of programming and public service. The Jeffris Family Foundation has awarded a matching grant of $25,000 to the Minnesota Historical Society to fund half of the estimated costs of a consultant to prepare the report.
The Legacy Field Trip Support Fund helped 24,444 Minnesota students in 298 schools experience field trips at Minnesota historic sites and museums statewide in FY15. 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 MNHS's 26 museums and historic sites statewide.
To hire qualified consultants to conduct an architectural survey of Macalester Park for possible local designation or inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.
The overall purpose of this initiative is to welcome more American Indians into the University to increase the number of speakers of the Dakota and Ojibwe languages. This will be done by the enrollment of adults in the Dakota and Ojibwe language immersion model classes, as well as, enrolling youth into the youth classes. The University will offer immersion model 100-level courses in Dakota and Ojibwe languages and provide scholarships to ensure accessibility and participation.
The goals of this grant include the continued recording and the professional transference of existing elder stories. The purchase of a professional dictation kit will ensure that the continued recordings are of highest quality. Four certificate-eligible interns will who can transition into language instructor position at Nay AH Shing Tribal School and Mille Lacs Early Education will continue their education of the Ojibwe language. These interns will also be developing teaching materials that can be used in the future.
Grant Activities: The goal of this grant is to support students’ acquisition of the Ojibwe and Dakota language and culture which begins in early childhood immersion at Anishinabe Academy by providing a language and culture table for their families. The Mino-Bimaadiziai/Chante Luta Language and Culture Table will focus on words, place names, and serve to build a non-threatening environment where parents, community members, and schools professionals will grow and develop.
Minnesota History Magazine celebrates its 100th anniversary with a new digital version. Beginning in April 2015, the quarterly magazine will be available as an app for both iPad and Android. The app version allows innovative additional content and also offers audiences an up-to-date channel for accessing, engaging with, and experiencing Minnesota's history.
The Minnesota Historical Society receives funds that it passes to Minitex to support the operation of the Minnesota Digital Library (MDL). MDL supports the digitization efforts of more than 150 participating historical organizations across the states and maintains the technical infrastructure for providing access to those collections on the web. MDL also advances educational and scholarly uses of the collections and is a data partner with the Digital Public Library of America.
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:
MNopedia (www.mnopedia.org) is a free, reliable, award-winning online encyclopedia of Minnesota, created and managed by the Minnesota Historical Society. MNopedia authors, many of whom are volunteer specialists, create rich entry packages, including text, multimedia and bibliographic resources that tell the stories of their communities and our state. New articles are published weekly. This unique resource, written and designed for use by general audiences as well as teachers and students, provides easy access to the shared history of all Minnesotans.
The first comprehensive retrospective of a key American Indian modernist from Grand Portage, MN, this exhibit includes drawings, paintings, prints, and sculpture that bring together concepts of abstraction, landscape, and spiritual reflection in the mind and eye of this important 20th-century artist.
To hire a qualified consultant to develop a Historic Structure Report that will help preserve the Nary Consolidated School, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
To contract with qualified professionals to prepare planning documents that will help preserve the Norway Lutheran Church (Muskego), listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
To hire a qualified historian to complete the nomination expansion to the National Register of Historic Places for the St. Paul Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway Company Shops (Jackson Street Shops).
Partner: Preservation Alliance of Minnesota (PAM)
The Preservation Education Partnership, known as Cornerstone Academy, focuses on broadening and deepening the knowledge of preservation in Minnesota, inspiring people to take action to preserve historic places in their communities. The education initiative actively educates diverse constituents through place-based workshops and hands-on trainings.
MNHS continues to build a culture of evaluation. An evaluation manager leads institutional evaluation capacity building, as well as provides technical assistance and support to staff who evaluate ACHF projects and programs. An evaluation associate in the Education and Lifelong Learning Division facilitates evaluation efforts specifically in K-12 education and public programs. Three interns and numerous volunteers continue to support evaluation work.
MNHS continues to build a culture of evaluation. An evaluation manager leads institutional evaluation capacity building and provides technical assistance and support to staff who evaluate ACHF projects and programs. An evaluation associate in the Education and Lifelong Learning division facilitates evaluation efforts, specifically in K-12 education and public programs. Three interns and numerous volunteers continue to support evaluation work.