Field Note

Heritage Preservation, Outreach, and Planning staff visited St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN to review progress on a grant-funded project to catalog and rehouse 3D items and textiles in the St. Olaf archives and record them in St. Olaf’s Collective Access database. After listening to a presentation they received a tour of the workspaces.

Heritage Preservation Grants

January Grants Open House
January 4 - Online: The Grants Office will hold a virtual Grants Office Open House using Google Meet from 2 to 3:30 pm in order to provide additional grants support to our communities. We encourage people to RSVP to Gillian with a short summary of what you want to talk about and she will try to ensure that someone helpful will be available. Learn more »

State Capital Projects Grants-in-Aid
This grant program supports historic preservation construction projects for publicly owned buildings in Minnesota. Eligible properties must be either listed in the National Register of Historic Places or determined to be eligible for listing by the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office. The mandatory pre-application is due Friday, January 26, 2024, and the final application deadline is Friday, March 8, 2024. The pre-application process is a requirement of this grant program.  Learn more »

Heritage Partnership Program Grant 
Heritage Partnership Program grants build the capacity of two or more eligible organizations to work together on their shared goals for Minnesota’s history. The mandatory pre-application is due Friday, January 26, 2024, and the final application deadline is Friday, March 8, 2024. The pre-application process is a requirement of this grant program. For more information contact John. Learn more »

Small Grant Deadline
The next small grant deadline (requests of $10,000 or less) for the MHCHG program is Friday, January 12, 2024.

From the Blog

This week's blog post is from Scott County Historical Society. Have a blog? Let us know!

This is My Life: Beatrice Zweber Remembers Threshing Crews
What was the worst was when the threshers would come. They were always there for two days, for breakfast, afternoon lunch, and late supper. In those days there weren’t any ice boxes or refrigerators in the county and it was a lot harder to get the food ready. My sisters always came home to help with the cooking for the threshers, otherwise I wouldn’t get the dishes washed. And there were so many to wash. 

I would bake fresh pie for dinner, cake for supper, and fresh coffeecake and buns for lunch. The bread I’d bake before the threshers came. We all worked hard all day. We cooked too good, that’s why the threshers ate so much. Continue reading »

From the Tube

This week's post is from Washington County Historical Society. Have a video channel or podcast? Let us know!

Job Opportunities

Minnesota Historical Society's Job Announcement, Internship, Fellowship, and Volunteer Opportunity pages.

MNHS

• Project Associate - MN History Center 
• Oral History Program Assistant - MN History Center
• Guest Services Assistant II - MN History Center
• Program Supervisor - Historic Fort Snelling
• Site Supervisor - Historic Fort Snelling

LOCAL

• Museum Director  - Murray County Historical Society, Slayton, MN 
• Audio-Video Producer - Heritage Organization of Romanian Americans in MN, St. Paul, MN
• Production Consultant - Heritage Organization of Romanian Americans in MN, St. Paul, MN
• Website designer - Heritage Organization of Romanian Americans in MN, Remote/St. Paul, MN
• Marketing vendor - Heritage Organization of Romanian Americans in MN, Remote/St. Paul, MN
• Technical Designer - Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN
• Executive Assistant - Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN
• Vice President - Ramsey County Historical Society, St. Paul, MN
• Career Development Manager - Springboard for the Arts, St. Paul, MN
• Senior Major and Planned Gifts Officer - Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
• STEM Educator - The Works Museum, Bloomington, MN

REGIONAL

• Public Records Accessioner - Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, WI
• Acquisitions Registrar - Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, WI
• University Archives Assistant - UW-Madison University Archives and Records Management, Madison, WI
• Interpretive Manager - Heritage Hill State Historical Park, Green Bay, WI
• Arts Coordinator - City of Sioux Falls, Sioux Falls, SD
• Administrator - State Historical Society of Iowa, Des Moines, IA

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

• Fiscal Officer - Illinois State Museum, Springfield, IL
• Curator of Education - Elkhart County Historical Museum/Elkhart County Parks Dept, Bristol, IN
• Senior Curator of History and Culture - Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites, Indianapolis, IN
• Engagement Specialist Supervisor - Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites, Indianapolis, IN
• Public Program Engagement Specialist - Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites, Indianapolis, IN
• Director, Exhibits Curation - Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis, IN
• Guest Services & Support Coordinator - Department of Cultural Arts, Town of Normal, Normal, IL
• Exhibits Department Manager - Ohio History Connection, Columbus, OH
• Associate Registrar - Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, MI
• Senior Director of Museum Operations and Strategic Initiatives - Mütter Museum and Historical Medical Library, Philadelphia, PA
• Director of Communications - Museum of the American Revolution, Philadelphia, PA
• Membership and Office Coordinator - American Association for State and Local History, Nashville, TN
• Full Curator - National WWI Museum and Memorial, Kansas City, MO
• Accessioning Archivist - Washington University St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
• Associate Curator, Indigenous Art - National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON
• Collections Management Specialist - Natural History, Manitoba Museum, Winnipeg, MB
• Associate Manager, Backing Historic Small Restaurants - National Trust for Historic Preservation, Remote

INTERNSHIPS/VOLUNTEERS/FELLOWSHIPS

• Public Relations Intern - Red Lake Regional Heritage Centre, Red Lake, ON

Additional Job Postings in the Field »

Do History Here

Image used with permission. From the collections of the Clearwater County Historical Society.

Submit your history organization's news and events to localhistorynews@mnhs.org.

Celebrate the New Year in Roaring Twenties Style
January 6 @ 7 to 11 pm - Historic Hormel House - Take a Step Back In Time to Celebrate the New Year. Get all dolled up in your favorite flapper dresses and pinstriped suits, or whatever inspires you for the upcoming New Year. The Austin Big Band will take you back to the days of the Charleston and the Fox Trot. Cost: $40. Learn more  » 

New Year's Open House 
January 7 @ 1 to 4 pm - Cokato: Cokato Historical Society - Ring in the New Year by attending the 24th Annual New Year’s Open House. Drop in and enjoy a demonstration of the Finnish New Year custom of “melting tin.”  Learn more  »

The Early History of Mound and the Upper Lake
January 8 @ 7pm - Spring Park: Lake Minnetonka Historical Society - Historian Jeff Magnuson will describe the origins of Mound, Minnesota and its unique place in the history of Upper Lake Minnetonka. Beginning with pre-history, the presentation will touch on Lake Minnetonka’s indigenous people, the famous earthen mounds, early Euro-American settlement, the original Mound City as a tourist destination, and the establishment of a commercial district with the arrival of the railroad in 1900. Location: Back Channel Brewing Co. Cost: $5. Learn more »

Funding & Awards

Highlighted Museum: Milwaukee Road Heritage Center, located in the former Montevideo Milwaukee Road Depot, Montevideo, MN.
Photograph by McGhiever, distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license.

Mini-Grants for K-12 Educators Teaching Native American Content
January 22 - (Deadline): Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community in partnership with the Minneapolis Foundation is pleased to announce a new program to provide educators with small grants to assist them in teaching Native subject matter accurately. This funding opportunity is part of the SMSC’s Understand Native Minnesota campaign, which is focused on improving the narrative about Native peoples, their history and culture, and tribal governments in Minnesota K-12 schools. Minnesota educators at public, private, charter, and tribal schools are eligible to apply for up to $2,000. Learn more »

Conserving Black Modernism Grant Program
February 1 - (Deadline): National Trust for Historic Preservation - This grant program is designed to empower and equip preservationists and stewards with funding and technical support to preserve the material heritage, innovation, and legacy of modern architectural sites designed by Black architects. Learn more »

African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund 
February 1 - (Deadline): National Trust for Historic Preservation - These grants are designed to advance place-based cultural heritage preservation projects for historic places representing African American cultural heritage. The Action Fund awards grants across four project categories: Capital Projects, Organizational Capacity Building, Project Planning, and Programming and Interpretation. Learn more »

Community Foundation Spring Grant Cycle Open
March 1 - (Deadline): Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation - This grant cycle aims to empower local nonprofit organizations, and initiatives seeking to impact the social, cultural and economic development of communities, and environmental protection throughout the region. Nonprofits are invited to apply for funds that support projects enhancing communities throughout northeast Minnesota, Northwest Wisconsin, and the seven sovereign tribal nations in the region. Learn more »

News

After 42 years, Gammelgården Museum’s ‘memory carer’ is stepping down — but not away
Pioneer Press — Only a few months before retiring as director of the Gammelgården Museum in Scandia, Lynne Blomstrand Moratzka accepted a momentous gift to the museum: a dala painting by Swedish folk-art painter Birgitta Hedengren. One of Moratzka’s responsibilities is to evaluate possible donations to the museum’s collection. She knew its value immediately. “It’s the most fabulous piece,” she said. “It will absolutely knock your socks off.” Continue reading »

Finding Minnesota: How did a dairy museum end up in a bank basement in Vergas?
WCCO TV — A collection that began over 60 years ago now has more than 600 dairy items. Just east of Fargo, North Dakota, is the town of Vergas. "None of the roads are straight up here because they are always winding around the lakes," said resident Lee Dahlgren. You'll know you're there when you see the giant loon. In fact, the town celebration is called "Loony Days." Julie Bruhn is the mayor and she'll tell you that what happens in Vergas stays in Vergas. That includes a museum stuffed full of dairy artifacts. Watch video »

Kandi Kane Lane
KSTP TV — In Wilmar, the Kandiyohi County Historical Society is hosting its newest holiday tradition called, “Kandi Kane Lane.” Executive Director Jill Wohnoutka joins us over Zoom to share everything we need to know about the festivities. Watch Video »

Briefly: New Year’s aspirations for the appellate lawyer
Minnesota Lawyer — ...And don’t forget about the Minnesota Supreme Court Historical Society! This is another appellate-focused nonprofit run by sociable law nerds and offering opportunities for volunteering to support the group’s archival efforts and attending events to mingle and learn something new... Continue reading »

Featured Book Hidden Hotels of St. Paul and Minneapolis: 1900-1905: 400 Short Tales of Lurid Lodging, by Paul Gold Lurid History Publishing.	Featured Article Minnesota History Critical Choices for the Minnesota Historical Society Volume 46, Issue 4, 1978	Featured Article MNopedia Paul Bunyan Featured MNopedia Article
Minnesota History Organizations Directory  • County, Chapters, and Local • Statewide/Topical Historical • Regional History Coalitions • Professional Organizations	Minnesota Main Streets Reinvigorate your community's commercial district.	Preservation Specialists Directory Look up products or services.

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