Minnesota History magazine will commission four articles on topics that contribute to MNHS' diversity and inclusiveness strategic priority. Topics will illuminate the historical experiences of people and communities who are currently underrepresented in the pages of Minnesota History. Efforts will be made to find diverse authors for the articles, which could include writers of color or writers from disabled, LGBTQ, religious minority or other underrepresented communities.
MNHS is working to strengthen its presence and visibility as a community resource to Minnesota's diverse communities by supporting a strategic tabling and sponsorship effort at 12 community events, such as Rondo Days, Twin Cities Jazz Festival and the Cultural Heritage and Social Action Summit. In addition, funds supported co-sponsoring and hosting diverse events, such as Twin Cities Black Film Festival and Somali Independence Day events at the Minnesota History Center.
This program provides critical assistance to MN DNR Parks and Trails Division Regional and District offices to assist with renewal and rehabilitation efforts prioritized locally by field staff. Projects include the following types: State Park Building and Facilities Emergency Repair and Maintenance, Paved Trail Maintenance and Asset Preservation, and State Park and State Forest Trail Renewal. This project is a newly reorganized budget area that consolidates these three smaller project areas reported on in previous years.
We used a programmatic approach to achieve prioritized aquatic habitat protection, restoration, and enhancement for lakes, trout streams, and rivers across all LSOHC planning regions of Minnesota.
We will use a programmatic approach to achieve prioritized aquatic habitat protection, restoration, and enhancement of lakes and streams across all the LSOHC planning regions of Minnesota.
We restored 2,081 acres of grassland and enhanced 42,425 acres of grassland for a total of 44,506 acres of wildlife habitat across 329 sites with these funds.
To meet increasing demand for digital books, 136 Minnesota Historical Society Press (MHS Press) books have been converted and are available as e-books from popular e-book vendors. Six short form e-books will be released by the end of January 2013. Digital editions of more than 80 MHS Press books are available to libraries, researchers and students via Project Muse, a leading provider of digital humanities and social sciences content. In addition, an enhanced e-book about Minnesota in the 1970s is now being written and developed and will be published in fall 2013.
Through this partnership, undergraduate students representing all five ACTC college campuses participated in a summer-long course designed to increase knowledge about the museum field. Students also interned at Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools, mentoring students participating in the History Day program. ACTC Fellows also visited leading museums in the midwest to compare and contrast the Minnesota Historical Society with other cultural institutions regarding content learned in class.
Work is being done to strengthen existing partnerships and create new opportunities for MNHS to deliver transformative educational experiences to students. ACHF dollars were used to leverage matching dollars from Minneapolis public schools to increase their contract with MNHS for educational programs, such as History Day. St. Cloud State University and Minnesota State University Moorhead also provided matching funds for partnerships that enrich U.S. history instruction with experiences at historic sites and museums.
Seven undergraduate student interns in St.
Through this program, partners are extending the reach of National History Day in Minnesota. MNHS staff coordinate school services with an emphasis on support for students from diverse backgrounds. Higher education partnerships help build college readiness skills for middle and high school students and strengthen the mentoring skills of college students.
Through this program, partners are extending the reach of National History Day in Minnesota. MNHS professional staff members coordinate school services with an emphasis on support for students from diverse backgrounds. Higher education partnerships help build college readiness skills for middle and high school students and strengthen the mentoring skills of Minnesota college students.
The Parks and Trails Division is creating innovative programs to attract new audiences to Minnesota state parks and trails. Skill-building programs, such as "I Can Camp!," provide a trial opportunity by eliminating the barriers of needing to have pre-existing knowledge or gear for the activity.
The Minnesota Historical Society strives to attract high school and college interns from underrepresented communities to encourage engagement and diversify the institution. Students are placed across the Society in various departments and sites and have the opportunity to work alongside museum professionals to enhance their skills and apply their knowledge in a professional environment. College students participate in learning activities together over a semester-long period to enrich the internship experience and network with other interns in their cohort.
The Minnesota Historical Society strives to attract high school interns from underrepresented communities to encourage engagement and to diversify the institution. Legacy funds supported five gallery assistants in spring 2015. High school students placed in this program get professional on-the-job experience interacting with visitors in the History Center galleries and at public events. These students contributed more than 400 hours to MNHS. Eighty percent of these students were from communities of color.
This project used a combination of invasive tree removal, seeding, and prescribed fire to improve habitat quality, diversity, and productivity on public lands in Minnesota. As we lose habitat to conversion and encroachment, it is increasingly important to maximize wildlife production on existing permanently protected lands. Today's public lands are expected to function at the highest level for not only wildlife usability but now also for other non game rare and threatened species, pollinators, and for water quality efforts in the state.
To hire a qualified and experienced HVAC engineer to evaluate current system preparatory to better control of the Clearwater County History Museum environment
With the centenary of the U.S. involvement in the Great War in Europe, the experience of predominantly German New Ulm and Brown County continues to have national significance and relevance to current events. The Brown County Historical Society created an exhibit, "Loyalty and Dissent: Brown County and World War I" on the second floor of their museum to illustrate and interpret the war experience of 1917 and 1918 as it pertained to Brown County.
MNHS exhibits are supported by diverse programming that complements exhibit content while extending the rich stories of Minnesota's history. MNHS staff are able to partner with community organizations on innovative programs for visitors of all ages. In FY17, programs included lectures, panel discussions, film screenings, musical performances, readers theater programs in the exhibit gallery, hands-on family activities and other events.
MNHS exhibitions are supported by diverse programming that complements the content of the exhibitions. These additional programs augment and promote the rich stories of Minnesota's history. In FY16, programs included lectures, musical performances, hands-on family activities, and other events. In particular, three exhibitions
Minnesota Association of Museums collaborates with the Minnesota Historical Society in providing professional development and support to history museum professionals across the state. In FY15, this partnership will assist with the funding of a part-time managing coordinator to begin implementing findings on history museum continuing education needs.
The Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota (CMSM) will complete the innovative community engagement process started with the previous Legacy grant. CMSM will build upon the progress created with the previous Legacy grant by transitioning the team's focus to carrying-out of strategic access strategies that engage a diversity of community members in the exhibit development process, resulting in the completion of fabrication plans for exhibits and environments that are accessible; engaging; and reflect the diverse art, culture, and heritage of southern Minnesota.
This exhibit about the iconic Minneapolis club, First Avenue, will explore the 1980s when the club was at its peak as a trailblazing venue that put Minnesota music on the map. For four decades, the First Avenue has been a launching pad for local talent like Prince, The Replacements and Husker Du and a place national touring acts loved to play. It booked African American rock, soul and hip-hop artists unable to get gigs at other downtown venues, and it fostered a growing punk, hardcore and indie rock scene.
Since 1981, the downtown Minneapolis nightclub First Avenue has been the regional standard-bearer for contemporary music, recognized the world over as the premier venue for the "Minneapolis Sound"
The DNR works with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the Minnesota Department of Health to determine the level of contamination from mercury and other harmful chemicals in fish from Minnesota's lakes and rivers and to track the success of efforts to reduce mercury pollution. Clean Water Legacy funding is being used to significantly increase (more than double) the number of lakes and rivers that are assessed for mercury contamination on an annual basis. Fish are collected during DNR fishery surveys, processed for laboratory testing, and analyzed for contaminants.
This proposal would acquire forest lands of significant natural resource and strategic location values and then resell those same lands previously acquired with this grant, subject to a Conservation Easement. Process would be repeated with land sale proceeds.
The Minnesota DNR and the Minnesota Forest Resources Council work with forest landowners, managers and loggers to implement a set of voluntary sustainable forest management guidelines that include water quality best management practices (BMPs) to ensure sustainable habitat, clean water, and productive forest soils, all contributing to healthy watersheds. This project will monitor the implementation of these forest management guidelines and BMPs on forested watersheds in MN.
Four new and unique views of Fort Snelling from various points in history will be available for students, teachers and the general public to access online. The Minnesota Historical Society has been collaborating with the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities at the University of Virginia to build four computer models that illustrate a dynamic and changing Fort Snelling from 1820 to 1945. The models will be linked to a rich and interrelated set of materials from all parts of the Society's collections, including photographs and manuscripts.
In the fourth year of this project, MNHS staff completed inventory and rehousing of most artifacts excavated from Historic Fort Snelling between 1957 and 1981. The Collections Management System now has 118,500 records for Fort Snelling artifacts. Three hundred items were photographed and are now accessible to the public online. In 2016, an exhibit featuring patent medicine bottles found at Fort Snelling was developed and installed in the Fort Snelling Visitor Center.
Development is underway on a number of future History Center exhibitions that will explore rich stories of Minnesota's past. Major exhibitions will center on how Minnesotans have played, the national impact of the 18th Amendment and Prohibition, the Vietnam War experience and its legacy, and professional football and the Vikings. Other exhibitions will highlight the variety of communities in the state and will bring the fascinating collections of the Minnesota Historical Society to public view.
In order to implement its Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund (ACHF) projects, the Minnesota Historical Society employs an ACHF Manager to oversee the program administration. The Society is also supporting administration of the grants program and expanded financial management and administrative functions. The Society is diligently working to keep administrative costs low while adhering to the legislative mandate that costs be "directly related to and necessary for a specific appropriation."
