Partners: Minneapolis and St. Paul Public Schools, St. Cloud State University (SCSU), the University of Minnesota, St. Paul College, Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES)
Education Outreach Partnerships are designed to strengthen existing partnerships and to create new opportunities for MNHS to deliver transformative educational experiences to students. Partnership dollars were used to leverage matching dollars from the Minneapolis and St. Paul Public Schools to increase their commitment to contract with MNHS for educational programs, such as History Day.
Partners: ISD 118, Northland Community Schools (Remer); Washington Technology Magnet School (St. Paul).
This project creates a partnership between the Minnesota Historical Society and two schools (one rural and one urban) to test the impact of MNHS educational programs on middle and high school students over multiple years. Each school will be provided an enrichment budget that will allow them to participate in field trips, acquire curriculum resources, support teacher professional development, and supplement in-classroom assistance for students.
The short term goal of this project is to develop a K-3rd grade Ojibwe language CORE curriculum and a K-3rd Dakota language CORE curriculum designed for use in an immersion setting. Additionally, twenty five Ojibwe and Dakota Elders Speakers will be engaged in the development of the curriculum
New invasive plant species continue to emerge in Minnesota and will pose ongoing threats to Minnesota’s economy, ecology, and environment if able to spread across the state. It is cheapest, easiest, and least harmful to find and control small populations of invasive plants before they become widespread.
The Elk River Watershed Association Joint Powers Board, via the Sherburne Soil and Water Conservation District, will utilize project funds to implement a pasture and manure management program which will provide technical and financial assistance to large animal/hobby farm owners. Staff will work with identified landowners to implement bacteria reduction best practices such as pasture renovation/management, riparian buffer strips, clean water diversions, vegetated buffer strips, and manure management including composting structures.
The Elk River Watershed Association (ERWSA) was formed to enable Sherburne and Benton Counties to work together to implement Local Water Management Plans. Since its formation in 1994, the ERWSA has primarily focused on working with land owners to reduce non-point sources of pollution within the watershed. Sherburne and Benton SWCD staff have extensive experience installing conservation practices. The ERWSA draws support from Sherburne County, Benton County, and local lake associations.
The goal of this project is to develop a watershed-wide, multi-parameter Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) and Implementation Plan that will collectively address all water quality impairments throughout the Elm Creek watershed.
Technical equipment was purchased that digitized historical images from the Society's photograph collections. The ELMHS Digital Image Viewing Project included the digitization, cataloging and web publishing of 525 images. A PastPerfect add on software program, called Virtual Exhibit, was used for the web publishing. Digitization will continue until the full 1500+ photograph collection has been reproduced. The photographs are now more accessible to researchers while the actual images can be better preserved through lack of physical contact.
This project will determine the magnitude and frequency of contamination from endocrine active compounds (EAC's) and other contaminants of emerging concern in shallow groundwater in non-agricultural areas of Minnesota. EACs and other contaminants of emerging concern in this study include compounds typically found in waste water, including, pharmaceutical compounds, antibiotics, and hormones. This project supports the third phase, including laboratory analysis of samples for an additional 80 wells to be sampled by MPCA staff.
US Geological Survey-MN Water Science Center will complete laboratory analysis of groundwater samples for endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) and other emerging contaminants of interest, including organic waste water compounds, pharmaceuticals, and endrocrine active compounds, and report results. MPCA staff will complete sample collection tasks. The USGS National Water Quality Laboratory and the Kansas Water Science Center Laboratory will perform the laboratory analyses.
-Increase Ojibwe language proficiency in two apprentices and fluency in two masters
-Raise public awareness of Ojibwe language in community
-Create collaboration with Economic Development Language Preservation Group to integrate language curriculum into Head Start program
The Minnesota Historical Society strives to attract high school interns from underrepresented communities to encourage engagement and diversify the institution. High school students are placed as gallery assistants and get professional on-the-job-experience interacting with visitors in the History Center galleries and at public events.
Minnesota has 9.5 million acres of public forest lands that play an important role in sustaining Minnesota’s environment and economy. The policies and programs used by public timber sale programs can impact post-harvest ecological conditions and have pronounced effects on the composition, structure, and productivity of the forest in the future. Additionally, timber harvesting revenues play an important role in economic activity, employment, and tax revenue.
Over 527,000 acres of unmanaged woodlands are being used for livestock grazing throughout Minnesota. Managing these grazed woodlands based on the use of best management practices can provide environmental and economic opportunities, including improved water quality, maximized forage production, and higher-quality timber. The best management practices involved are commonly used in other parts of the country with other types of ecosystems, but have not been widely adopted in Minnesota due to a lack of knowledge and experience with implementing them within the ecosystems of Minnesota.
The Division of Parks and Trails is providing expanded cross-country ski, snowshoe and other winter activities in Minnesota state parks and recreation areas; Minnesota state trails; and Minnesota state forests. The division is re-establishing trails that had been closed due to a lack of funding; enhanced a number of existing facilities by brushing, mowing or improving trail condition prior to snowfall. The division has also enhanced existing facilities by maintaining additional parking lots or staging areas and, in the case of trails, by providing winter grooming.
Through this partnership, students from Macalester College are conducting a study to identify, select and assess historic content related to Minnesota's environmental history, using archival, archaeological and geospatial data at the Minnesota Historical Society.
The restoration of the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration restored the building to a condition that is suitable for occupancy and prevented the building from becoming unsafe thus requiring it to be demolished. The largest portion of the restoration involved repairs to the foundation. The Episocopal Church of the Transfiguration, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and located in a city park.
To hire a qualified consultant to develop design guidelines that will help with the restoration of the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Gullies are a fixture of the landscape. Except for avoiding them during field work they can be ignored for years and the benefits to the landowner of fixing them never seem to outweigh the costs for doing so. It is only when viewed over time that the true impact becomes apparent. Red Lake County SWCD identified these two project locations as high priority due to the large amount of sediment these projects have contributed to the Red Lake River. Those impacts will continue as the erosion accelerates and they become deeper and wider over time.
Lake Superior, the world’s largest freshwater lake by surface area, is amongst Minnesota’s greatest natural resources providing drinking water, shipping, recreation, and tourism. Recently the lake has been undergoing significant changes including increasing water temperatures, decreasing ice cover, increasing nutrient loads, decreasing biological productivity, increasing invasive species, and changes in species abundance and distribution. The reasons behind these changes and the interactions amongst them are not well understood.
A comprehensive report, including three options for new service, was developed by a consortium of professionals for a new HVAC system for the Plummer House of the Arts. This group of professionals consisted of an AIA/LEED certified architect, an HVAC engineer, an historical consultant and a forester. The Henry S. Plummer House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and contains pieces of art and furnishings requiring museum quality climate control.
The Pope County Historical Society hired experienced an HVAC engineer, to conduct an evaluation of their mechanical system. This included three site visits to document current conditions through interviews, photos and temperature/humidity dataloggers placed throughout the museum. With this information, they prepared a written analysis including recommendations to improve the HVAC system toward current museum standards.
To hire a qualified and experienced HVAC engineer to evaluate the current system preparatory to better control of the Wadena County Historical Society museum environment.
Minnesota Historical Society exhibitions are supported by diverse programming that complements the content of the exhibitions. These additional programs augmented and promoted the rich stories of Minnesota's history in connection with exhibitions such as "American Spirits: the Rise and Fall of Prohibition" and "Toys of the 50s, 60s and 70s."
Partner Organization: Science Museum of Minnesota.
The Science Museum of Minnesota and the Minnesota Historical Society each maintain important historical collections of American Indian cultural objects assembled by Bishop Henry Benjamin Whipple. The objects document the changes experienced by the Dakota and Ojibwe in Minnesota in the 19th century.
Partner: Minnesota Association of Museums (MAM)
MAM provides professional development and support to museum professionals across the state. This partnership funds a part-time managing coordinator to research professional development programs for museum professionals, communicate and promote the programs, determine what additional professional development opportunities are needed and expand MAM programming to serve organizations across the state.
History Player in the Classroom is a popular program in which actors portraying historical figures come to Minnesota classrooms to give students "real life" lessons in history.
