The Minnesota Historical Society was host to an American Indian Roundtable in spring 2014 for all tribes that have connections to Minnesota. This multi-day event covered topics such as language preservation, grant writing and a digitizing workshop to support the preservation of American Indian history and culture.
The Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans in collaboration with the Minnesota Humanities Center will fund arts and cultural heritage programming to educate, highlight, and promote understanding of the arts and cultural heritage of Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) for all Minnesotans.
The purpose of the Jeffers Petroglyphs Data Access project is to store and provide access to 3D digital scans of the Jeffers Petroglyphs. A website devoted to the Jeffers Petroglyphs is being created to showcase the valuable three-dimensional images of ancient rock carvings recently catalogued by the Minnesota Historical Society Collections staff. This project carries out the critical second piece of the 2008 Jeffers Petroglyphs Conservation Project that was initially funded to remove lichen from the petroglyphs.
The Arts and Access Programs included two major new initiatives: 1. New arts and access programming at Minnesota Children’s Museum-Rochester; and 2. Creativity Jam Exhibit, which engaged Minnesota children and families in a changing line-up of large-scale creative arts projects and loose parts play at the Minnesota Children's Museum's flagship downtown Saint Paul site.
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.
The Minnesota Historical Society manages 26 historic sites and museums across Minnesota. Recognizing an opportunity to work more collaboratively with organizations where historic sites are located, MNHS is working with local historical organizations around the state to assess and improve their service to the public. MNHS staff are working with several organizations such as Wilderness Inquiry, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, St.
In FYs 14 and 15, MNHS staff reviewed thousands of Native American items and records resulting in the identification of nearly 500 objects as culturally sensitive. This material will require a higher standard of research, care and preservation. In addition, MNHS staff visited elders and professional staff at two tribal communities in the state explicitly to discuss culturally sensitive material. In FY 15, MNHS received a formal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act claim to repatriate approximately 36 items.
The Minnesota Historical Society continues to strive for environmental, economic and social sustainability with its third year of the sustainability program. Continued focus is being placed on educating staff and visitors about sustainability through the project's "More for the Mission" campaign. Sustainability campaigns include a staff alternative commuting event and an upcoming staff stair campaign. The goal of these projects is to engage staff in the significance of sustainability in their daily lives.
The Minnesota Indian Affairs Council in collaboration with the Minnesota Humanities Center will extend and deepen the ongoing partnership around the Why Treaties Matter: Self-Government in the Dakota and Ojibwe Nations exhibition, supporting host sites through December 2012.
