The Minnesota Historical Society continues to build a culture of evaluation. An evaluation coordinator provides technical assistance and support to staff who evaluate ACHF projects and programs. An institutional Evaluation Action Team, along with consultation from Wilder Research, helps provide strategy and direction for evaluation capacity-building efforts. Interns from the Minnesota Evaluation Studies Institute at the University of Minnesota also support evaluation efforts that may include logic model design, evaluation planning, instrument design and data analysis and reporting.
Since completion of the Ramsey Redevelopment Project in 2011, the Alexander Ramsey House has been operating under a new model, but without a new business and marketing plan. This project allowed the Historic Sites division to hire a consultant to lead the site staff and MNHS technical advisers through a business planning process. Project objectives were to articulate goals and an operational plan for the site, identify target markets for the site and ensure the site would continue to meet institutional mission and financial goals.
The Southside Park and Yackly Park Historical Markers were created and installed to identify and document two historical home sites located within City Parks in the City of New Prague.
Yackly Park site, there had been past efforts made to document the history of the site and the existence of a log cabin with family ties back to New Prague's Founder Anton Philipp. In 2005, irrepairable damage to the remnants of the Yackly Cabin (rot and severe structural problems) led to its documentation by the Scott County Historical Society and demolition.
The Historic Recognition Grant program will preserve, recognize, and promote the historic legacy of Minnesota, with a focus on commemoration of Minnesota's role in the American Civil War via media, materials, and public programs to underscore the Civil War-era origins of the state capitol to complement the visitor experience once the building reopens for public tours in 2017 is the second of three projects being administered by MNHS in cooperation with the state's Civil War Commemoration Task Force are in development
MNHS continued to support opportunities to help students, teachers and the public learn about Minnesota and the Civil War. Funding provided ongoing support and coordination. Production of 10 short films focused on this era yielded two documentaries repeatedly aired by Twin Cities Public Television. Topics included Dred Scott and Harriet Scott, Governor Ramsey and Minnesota's entry into the war, the Battles of Antietam, Nashville and Gettysburg, women warriors, perils and prison camps and the election of 1864, among others. Teachers were made aware of these resources via statewide workshops.
Partner: University of Minnesota--Twin Cities
The University of Minnesota and Minnesota Historical Society are collaborating to enhance heritage education across Minnesota. One of the goals is to bring university students out of the classroom, engaging them in work in communities whose heritage may be overlooked or undervalued. The university will build educational programs that bring awareness for cultural heritage awareness and protection.
The U of M and MNHS are collaborating to enhance heritage education across Minnesota. This project engages students in field experiences with the archaeological collections and interpretive programs at Historic Fort Snelling and is providing research support for new programs at the Oliver Kelley Farm. These projects will help build models for collaborative instruction that fosters cultural heritage awareness and protection.
To increase exposure and access to arts and agricultural displays, by mounting television screens in exhibit buildings and public areas. By making fair attendees more aware of what is happening in all corners of the fair ground, McLeod County Fair plans on attracting a demographic that typically passes by the arts and agricultural exhibit buildings. Information to be broadcast includes, but is not limited to, arts demonstrations, musical performances, agricultural facts and figures, and McLeod County Fair history.
The Dakhóta Iápi Okhódakichiye will conduct a series of interviews with first language speakers of the Dakhóta language to understand the systematic absence of Minnesota's first language through a Dakhóta lens. The project has three objectives: 1) Understand the systematic absence of the Dakhóta language from Minnesota, 2) Understand language loss and revitalization from a Dakhóta perspective, and 3) Create Dakhóta language curriculum and archive (bilingual) from the transcripts.
The administration of the Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grant Program ensures rigor, fairness, honesty, integrity, and consistency in the distribution of ACHF funding. Grants staff consult on, review, evaluate, respond to, mentor, coach, shape, and monitor grant projects from initial applicant contact to project closeout, reporting, and monitoring.
Arts and Cultural Heritage funds supported staff time devoted to creating "Then Now Wow," a major, new, hands-on exhibit that brings fascinating people, places and stories of our state to life. Visitors to "Then Now Wow" (the exhibit's working title was "Our Minnesota") which opened at the Minnesota History Center in late November 2012, explore the state's distinctive places and meet the diverse people who have made their homes here.
The exhibit told the stories of the toys of the baby boom era--of the kids who played with them, the adults who bought them, the child-rearing experts who judged them, and those who invented, packaged and advertised them--reflecting the rhythms of American life. Minnesota originals such as Tonka, Gumby, Twister and Cootie were highlighted. The 5,000-square-foot exhibition opened at the Minnesota History Center on May 24, 2014, and ran through January 4, 2015.
